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THE 



RIOHTS OF MAN 



BEING A PROPOSITION 



^O MAXB IT HQJJAIm ILSULOlXa TH.B JLJUUI^TB 

OF THE 

PRESENT GENERATIONS 

AND TO PROVIDE fi'K IT> EQIAL TRANSMISSION TO EVERY 

II^SIVIDUAL OF LACH SUCCtEDING GENERATION, ON 

ARRIVING AT THE aGE OF MATURITY. 



ADDRESSED TO THE 
'CITIZENS OF THE STATE OF NEW-lORK, PARTICULARLY, AND TO 

the people of other Stales and r»Iatidns, generallj^. 



, " Ihold these truths to be self-evident; Ihat^I men are created equal • tha» 
they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights; and that 
among these are life, liberty and property."'— Altered from Mr- Jefferson's 
Declaration of Araericaa Independence. 



BY THOMAS SKIDMORE, 



PRINTED FOR THE ACTHOR BY AlEXANDKR MINCb, ^« 

106 Beekmao-street, 



1829. 

6 



5 



Santhern District of Neiv-York, ss. 

Be it remembered, that on the thirteenth day of Aug. A. 1). 18i29 
in the fifty-fourth yoarof the Independerice of the United States 
of America, IhotMar Skidmore of the said Distri't, has deposited 
in this office, the title of a book, the right whereof he claiois as 
Author iff vhe words following, to wit: 

" The Rights of M n to Property, being a proposition to make 
it equal among the adults of the present Generation ; and to pro- 
vide for its equal transmission to evcy individual of each succeed- 
ing genevation. on arriving a« thr age of mau'.nty. Addressed to 
the Cit z>ns of the State of New-York, particularly, and to the 
people of other State^. and Ni«ti< ns geuersiiUy — " I hold these truths 
to be self evident; that all men are created equal; that they arc 
endowed, by their ( reator with certain v.nalienable rights , and 
that among these are life, liberty, and property." Altered from 
Mr. Jefferson's Declaration of American Independence. — By 
Thomas Skidmore," 

In conformity to the Act of Congress of the United States, en- 
titled, " An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing 
the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to thf^ Authors and pro- 
prietors of such copies, during 'he time therein mentioned.'' And 
also an Act, entitled " An Act, supplementary to an jVct, entitled 
an Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies 
of Maps, Chats, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such 
copies, during the times therein nientioned, and extending the be- 
nefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching 
historical and other prints. " 

FREir J. BETTS, 

Cltrk of the SoMihtrn District of New-York. 



PREFACE. 



There is no man of the least reflection, who 
has not observed, that the effect, in all ages and 
countries, of the possession of great and undue 
wealth, is, to allow those who possess it, to live on 
the labor of others. And yet there is no truth 
more readily, cheerfully, and universally ac- 
knowledged, than that the personal exertions of 
each individual of the human race, are exclusively 
gtnd unalienably his own. 

It would seem, then, to be no bad specimen of 
argument, to say, inasmuch as great wealth is an 
instrument which is uniformly used to extort from 
others, their property in their personal qualities 
and efforts — ^that it ought to be taken away from 
its possessor, on the same principle, that a sword 
or a pistol maybe wrested from a robb«r, who 
shall undertake to accomplish the same effect, in a 
different manner. 

One thing must be obvious to the plainest un- 
derstanding ; that as long as property is unequal; 
or rather, as long as it is so enormously unequal? 



as we see it at present, that those who possess it, 
will live on the labor of others, and themselves 
perforin none, or if any, a very disproportionate 
share, of that toil which attends them as a condi- 
tion of their existence, and without the perform- 
ance of which, they have no just right to preserve 
or retain that existence, even for a single hour. 

It is not possible to maintain a doctrine to the 
contrary of this position, without, at the same 
time, maintaining an absurdity no longer tolerated 
in enlightened countries ; that a part, and that a 
very great part, of the human race, are doomed, of 
right, to the slavery of toil, while others are born> 
only to enjoy. 

I, for one, disavow every such doctrine. Even 
if it be admitted that the present possessors of pro- 
perty, in any country, are the true and rightful 
owners of it, beyond any question, still I maintain 
that they have no just right to use it in such a man- 
ner, as to extract from others, the result of their la- 
bors, for the purposeof exempting themselves from 
the necessity of laboring as much as others must 
labor, for a like amount of enjoyment. The mo- 
ment that any possessor of property, makes such 
use of it, I care not how, nor under the sanction of 
what law, or system of laws, as to live in idleness, 
partial or total, thus supporting himself, more or 
less, on the labors of others ; that moment he 
contravenes and invades the rights of others ; an4 
has placed himself in the coqdition which wonl^ 



justify the party injured, in dispossessing the ag- 
gressor, of the instrument of his aggression. 
. But the work which I thus present to the con- 
sideration of my fellow citizens and others, does 
not rest here the defence of its principles. It does 
not rest contented with merely showing, in this 
way, that men have no right to their property, (as 
they call it) when they use it, for the purpose of 
converting their fellow beings into slaves to labor 
for their use. It goes farther. It attempts to 
shew, that the whole system of the laws of proper- 
ty, in all countries, is such : that no man has any 
just and true title to his possessions at all : that 
they are in fact, possessions growing out of injus- 
tice, perpetrated by all governments, from time 
immemorial and continued down to the present 
hour. It depends then upon the success of this at- 
tempt, whether I have added strength to the posi- 
tion I have assumed, that all men should live on 
their own labor, and not on the labor of others. If, 
in the course\of the following pages, I have shewn 
that the present possessors of enormous property, 
(I mean vaove particularly these,) have no just title 
to their possessions ; and if it is apparent, as I 
trust it is, than when property is enormously une- 
qual, that the men of toil, of all countries, can 
never have the full enjoyment of their labor ; it 
will be conceded, no doubt, that I have shewn 
enough to justify my fellow citizens in pulling down 
the present edifice of society, and to induce them 
to build a new one in its stead, provided I have 

1* 



also shewn how to organize this new government 
in such a manner as to compel all men, without 
exception, to labor as much as others must labor, 
for the same amount of enjoyment ; or, in default 
thereof, to be deprived of such enjoyment altoge- 
ther. Of this, however, it is for the reader, and 
for every reader, to judge. 

As to the manner in which this work is execut- 
ed, it becomes me to say but little. I am sensible, 
however, that it contains abundance of imperfec- 
tions. I am aware that there are hundreds and 
thousands, who, entertainmg the same sentiments 
that I do, could have supported them in a manner 
much more acceptable to the public than I have 
done. But I trust, if the frame of civil society 
which I have erected upon its pages, shall find 
friends and advocates, that there will not be want- 
ing men who shall do justice to its principles. 
With this observation, I commit myself to the judg- 
ment of an impartial community ; and await, with 
pleasure, the destiny to which they will consign 
these labors, which have had only for their object 
the promotion of the welfare of the public, and the 
equal interest which 1 myself have therein, as one 
of their number. 



^*^ 



J 



THE RIGHTS OF MAN TO PROPERTY, 



CHAPTER I. 

I am undertaking a work, which, as Rousseau 
said of his " Confessions," has no example, and 
whose execution perhaps, will find no approval* 
But, be this as it may ; the consciousness I feel, 
that my motives are pure, and that the work 
which engages me, will tend to fix on an imper- 
ishable basis, the happiness of my fellow beings^ 
is all the encouragement and support I require to 
bring it to a consummation. When they shall 
have read it, they will judge for themselves, how 
far my means of assuring that happiness, will be 
likely to coincide with my intentions and expecta- 
tions. 

The same « author, on another occasion, has 
said, that inasmuch as he was not a Legislator, 
therefore^ he offered his sentiments to those who 
were. Had he been such, he observed, he would 
not have troubled the world with his opinions ; 
but would have proceeded, forthwith, to put them 
into execution. How very proper, then, may it 



8 

not be in an age and in a country, where every 
man is a Legislator, for any and every citizen to 
exercise his functions ^s such, whenever he shall 
believe he may be able to do so, with advantage 
to his fellow citizens. 

But if, in this country, we are all Legislators, 
we are not exclusively so. No one of us has 
power in this capacity, of making a law over his 
fellow citizens, in opposition to his consent. A 
majority of our aggregate number is, alone, ca- 
pable of fully consummating a Legislative act. 
As it regards each individual of our community of 
Legislators, he stands in relation to the whole, as 
a member of one of our State Assemblies does, to 
all the members of which it is composed. He 
has the same right, of making his motion, of sub- 
mitting his propositions, and of offering all the 
arguments and reasons he thinks proper, in their 
support. Such is the relation, in which I per- 
ceive myself to be placed, with my fellow citizens 
of the State of New- York ; and it is in the full 
exercise of the rights, in the possession of which, 
this relation leaves me, that I shall offer to their 
consideration, through the medium of this work, a 
proposition, to entirely re- model the political 
structure of our State, and make it essentially 
different from any thing of the kind heretofore 
known. 

As it is, however, a proposition, which, before 
it can be carried into execution, must be thorough- 
ly and deeply investigated, if not by every indivi- 



9 

dual, at least by a majority so great, as to leave &. 
minority of very little importance in point of 
numbers ; so it is of the greatest moment, to the 
reception or rejection of this proposition, which- 
ever it may meet with, at the hands of this com- 
munity, that the art of printing, has arrived at 
such perfection, that the price, at which a copy of 
this work will be afforded, will not be, beyond the 
means of any man who feels an interest in the 
subject which it discusses. That every man in 
the State, from the highest to the lowest, has such 
an interest, and that of the greatest magnitude^ 
will be evident enough, in the further progress of 
the work. 

It would, however, be of little use, — that books 

were afforded at a moderate price, if readers were 

few in number. Happily, with us, such is not the 

fact. While, in France, which has the best in- 

structed population on the continent of Europe, 

there are, as we are told, seventeen millions out 

thirty, who are unable to read ; in the State of 

New- York, as well as most of our sister-States, 

scarcely one-twentieth, I believe, are incapable 

of reading, with a full understanding of what they 

read. Whoever, therefore, comes before an 

American community, with a printed proposition, 

presented in clear and plain language, built on 

and supported by, principles, which to such com' 

munity shall appear to be adapted to give then^ 

their rights, when full investigatioa sjiall h^ye 



10 

been had of it, cannot fail to be well received ; — 
and his proposition carried into full effect ; though 
to do so, it should cause a greater change, in 
our civil code, than has ever yet happened, in 
any country even in this age of revolutions. 

As yet no condition of things has ever existed, 
in which abuses have not sprung up and flourish- 
ed. There have been those, who have profitted 
by them ; and they have always opposed the ex- 
tirpation of the evil upon which they fattened. 
One of their modes, of resisting any change which 
would go to deprive them of their dishonest nutri- 
ment, has ever been to represent that the evil was 
inevitable ; that it was impossible to eradicate it ; 
and that therefore it was best to submit to it, 
without complaint or repining. And too often 
has it been attended with success. The friends 
of pure and virtuous principles, in all ages, have, 
too often, been alarmed into an opinion, that they 
could not concentrate the co-operation of men of 
their own description sufficient to resist the tor- 
rent of corruption, and have yielded to despair : 
while those who flourished in the destruction of 
those principles, which alone can promote the 
public welfare, have triumphed over them. 

But this state of things is doomed, soon to ter- 
minate its existence. The printing- press ^ to- 
gether, with the population of a whole State or 
Empire, being instructed, and rendered capable 
of reading ; — together, also, with the possession, 



It 

hy every individual of such population, of ^^e righi 
of suffrage ; put it out of the power of a few, to 
defeat, frustrate, or delay, for any considerable 
time, the wishes of the many. Henceforward, let 
a writer advance views, that will benefit the great 
mass of the community; and there will be found 
no power adaquate to stay their adoption* Neith- 
er minority, nor majority, will be able to per- 
suade themselves, or others, that the interests of 
the greater party, should not be consulted by 
those who have the power (and who knoi^ too, 
that they have it,) to do so. The utmost, that 
interested opposers of reformation or revolution, 
can hope to accomplish, is, to retard inquiry ; so 
that those who have an interest in the suppres- 
sion of the abuses, or the false principles, of 
government, shall not so soon arrive at a full and 
general understanding of any change which may 
be proposed, and the reasons that go to support 
it, as they otherwise would. But in the present 
state of knowledge among the citizens of the 
American Confederacy, and particularly that por- 
tion of it, where we find the free white maUj 
forming as it were, the entire population, such 
delay will necessarily be extremely transient. 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident ; thai 
" all men ar«£ created equal ; that they are en- 
** dowedby theii Creator with certain unalienable 
*' rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and 
'* the pursuit of happiness," Who would not 



J2 

tiiink that principles, such as these, would not 
only be acknowledged, but be acted upon, by all 
mankind f That they would not require to be pre- 
sented to the consideration of our species, but 
would meet with a spontaneous recognition, in 
every human breast ? And yet how small a portion 
of mankind are prepared to acknowledge them f 
Where, unless it be in the two Americas, shall we 
find it even admitted, " that all men are created 
equal?" If amidst all that has happened, and all 
that has been written in favor of liberty, within 
the last seventy or eighty years, liberty is no where 
to be found, except on this continent, it would 
seem to argue but little in favor of the efficiency 
of the Press, or the omnipotence of our reasoning 
faculties, towards bringing about revolutions in 
the physical, moral, and civil condition of man. 
Thomas Paine, who supported the rights of the 
people of all nations, with an energy, and an 
ability, perhaps never excelled, and who judged, 
as to the future, with as much correctness as 
most men, predicted* (in 1792,) that before theyear 
1800 should arrive, there would not exist a' single 
crowned head, in Europe ; and yet how lamenta- 
bly wide of the prediction, is the fact ! So much so^ 
that we all know there is not a single republican 
government in Europe, where, as he thought, in 
7 or 8 years afterwards, there would have been 
no other ! 



■Rights of Man, Second Fart, p. 4. 



18 

It may not be altogether useless, to discuss a 
little, the causes that have had an influence in falsi- 
fying a prediction, which, as events have proved, 
could have had no just foundation. That those 
principles which were supposed to be capable of 
sujiplanting the monarchical governments of 
Europe, are such as are congenial to the nature 
of man, consistent with his rights, and promotive 
of his happiness, I presume few men in this coun- 
try, will be disposed to deny. They are principles, 
such as are incorporated into that Declaration of 
Independence, which separated us from our alle- 
giance to a Foreign Sovereign ; and transferred 
to the people of these States, the right of govern- 
ing themselves. The causes however which pro- 
duced such separation, were no doubt of the most 
oppressive kind, and capable of stimulating no 
common degree of energy, in their resistance. 
Yet, it may well be doubted, whether most of the 
acts of tyranny, which the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, charges to the account of George the 
Third, might not have been perpetrated with im- 
punity, by ^native monarch, over the American 
States, if the fact had been that such a monarch 
had reigned over them. And even admitting that 
resistance had followed, it is far from being cer- 
tain, that such resistance would have been sue- 
ceeded by the establishment of government on 
principles fundamentally different from those in 
previous existence. The monarch himself might 

2 



14 

have been dethroned, but the throne itself, would 
in all probability, have remained, and been occu- 
pied by another. Besides we should recollect that 
the p^eople of the United States, the first to set 
the example of self .c^overnrnent, had no monarch- 
ical nei«^hbors, to interfere by arms, or otherwise, 
with their internal arraUj^ements. Had such been 
the fact, as svas the case with France, the first 
which attempted republican government in Eu- 
rope, th»'re is tittle doubt, that liberty would have 
been driven, perhaps for two centuries, from the 
American Continent, as it has been from the 
European. 

But the chief cause of the failure of the predic- 
tion, a prediction in accordance with the expec- 
tations of ujaoy of Hie most distinguished men of 
the time, as well those who dreaded, as those 
who wished its consummation, is to be found in 
the general, nay, almost universal want of readers. 
So much are mankind the creatures of habit, 
that wherever they happen to have their exist- 
ence, they seem to be disposed to rest content in 
continuing to suflei from those evils, with which 
they have been familiar, from their earliest in- 
fancy, rather than to take the necessary measures 
to eradicate them. Nay it is not uncommon,, 
that evil is not considered as such ; and it fre- 
quently happens, that they do not discover its true 
character, till some aggravated act of tyranny, per- 
petrated by some capricious, or remorseless des- 



15 

pot, makes it known to them through the medium 
xif greater sufferings, than those to which they had 
heretofore been accustomed. Perhaps, in all hu- 
man history, there is not more than a single in- 
stance or two, if there be even these, where revo- 
lutions have been produced, by any other cause 
than by rendering the condition of the people of 
those nations, in which they have happened, more 
oppressive and burdensome, than they were 
before. And eve^i this aggravation of the miseries 
of nations, is capable of being accomplished, 
without the intervention of revolutions, where ty- 
rants have sufficient discretion to make its intro- 
duction gradual, and as it werejalmost impercept- 
ible. 

It results from these observations, what is ap- 
parent to every reflecting man ; that the mass of 
mankind are afflicted with evils of which they 
have no just conception ; that they have rights, of 
which they have no clear and definite under- 
standing I and that, in the slavery, poverty, and ig- 
norance, with which they are surrounded, there is 
no possibility of exhibiting to them, the evils un- 
der which they labor, nor of acquainting them 
with their rights, the possession of which wo aid 
remove their sufferings ; till they can be, or have 
been, taught to read, and understand what they 
have read. These remarks apply to every country, 
but our own, and even to this, in every things 
though in a qualified degree, except it be that of 
public education. 



16 

It is possible, I have dwelt longer than is 
agreeable to the reader, on the subject of the very 
general instruction of the American peiople in the art 
of reading, and of understanding what they read. 
In the further progress of this work, I trust how- 
ever, that he will become convinced, that I do not 
over-rate the importance of the fact, that a por- 
tion so very great of our population, have acquir- 
ed this species of education. The innovations I 
am about to propose to my fellow-citizens, in our 
State-Government, and to the people of other 
States and Nations, if 'hey shall think proper to 
inquire how far they may be calculated to pro- 
mote their welfare, are of such a nature, that they 
require to be not only very closely, and deeply^ 
but if it were possible, universally investigated, 
btforethey can be adopted, so as to be as useful to 
the community generally, as their own intrinsic 
importance is calculated to make them. The rea- 
der will perceive that it would be of little conse- 
quence, how estimable and valuable, after fully 
understanding them, he should consider them to 
be, if, at the same time, he should suppose, per- 
haps contrary to the fact, that there were not a 
sufficient number of his fellow-citizens, capable of 
reading, and of course of understanding them, 
and the reasons that go to support them, to ch- 
force their adoption. 

In such a case, the most that could be said, 
would be, that the proposed innovation was a 



17 

valuable speculation, adapted to be useful at a 
future day, when education should have extended 
its benign influence over a greater portion of our 
population, But if, on the contrary, the reader 
should be satisfied that there are, noiv, a sufficient 
proportion of our citizens qualified with instruc- 
tion, to be made acquainted with the design and 
probable operation of the changes in question, he 
would then feel a strong inclination to give it a 
support of surpassing energy, corresponding with 
his estimate of its importance to his own welfare, 
and that of his fellow-citizens. Besides, it is to 
be considered, that all propositions meet with op- 
position from somebody. Now, if that which I 
have to offer, should be considered as injuring the 
rich — while it was of the utmost benefit to the 
poor, and middling classes of the community, who 
form ninety-nine parts in every hundred of the 
whole population of every country ; the knowledge 
of the fact, that the great mass of the people are 
capable of understanding it, because they have 
the ability to read, and the means of purchase, 
would convince the rich, that it would be perfectly 
idle to oppose what so very large a majority should 
determine to adopt and enforce. 

The population of this State, from calculations 
jnade from official data, at the beginning of the 
present year (1829,) cannot vary much from 
1,825,000. Of these it is ascertainable from the 
same data, about, 750,000, are under the age of 

2* 



18 

(ifte^n* The period in which instruction is mo&t; 
generally given, is between the ages of jive and 
fifteen, and therefore, if we deduct, from this num- 
!)er, one third for children under the age of five 
years, which will be sufficiently accurate for my 
purpose ; there will remain half a million of chil- 
dren requiring instruction, in reading, writing, 
&c. &c. Now, it appears from the Report, 
of the Superintendent of common schools, made 
to the Legislature of this State, the present year, 
that there were taught in those schools, in 1828> 
449,113 children, between the ages mentioned : 
and over and above these, 19,092, whose ages are 
not mentioned. There are 445 school districts, 
from which no returns were received. If we al- 
low that there may be half as many children in- 
structed in each of these districts, as were taught 
in each of the other districts, it would add up- 
wards of 12,000 more to the number. To these 
are to be added, the number of children taught ia 
private schools, of which, of course, no returns are 
required, or allowed to be made to the Superin- 
tendent. Those, also, taught in private families, 
and, there arc many such, are not included; so 
that when a full and fair estimate is made, I 
think it will be found, that not more than one 
twentieth, or a twenty-fifth part of the rising ge- 
neration, in this State, are suffered to grow up, 
untaught. 

Most of the Norihern and Western States oi 



10 

ibis Confederacy, I believe, will be found to ex:^ 
liibit similar results as regards public instruc- 
tion ; and with respect to the Eastern States, it is 
well known, that they have long surpassed all the 
other States of the Union, in their institutions of 
education. 

It cannot, therefore^ be otherwise than propi-- 
tious, in every relation in which the matter can be 
viewed, that a proposition is about to be submitted, 
to the consideration of a people, calculated, as the 
author of it believes, eminently to promote their 
welfare, by shewing how to eradicate the evils 
which afflict them, even under the best system of 
government, which the art of man has yet been 
able to devise ; and that people so circumstanced^ 
that such proposition can and will come home to 
their closest investigation. It adds to the felicity 
of this condition of things, that after such investi- 
gation has been had, and a general conviction re- 
sults, if it should result, that it is worthy of their 
approbation and adoption, that they hold in their 
hands, through the silent, peaceful, and irresistible 
operation of the ballot-boxes, the power to esta- 
blish it, as the basis of their social compact. 

Heretofore, such has not been the fortunate 
condition of the human race. If, in different ages, 
and in different countries, there have been found 
as is undoubtedly true, men of clear heads, and 
honest hearts, struggling to increase the happiness. 
Q.f the ^reat mass of nations, they have been resist* 



36 

ed, by extraordinary and almost invincible difficul- 
ties. If the States, in which they lived, were small, 
and surrounded by powerful and dangerous ene- 
mies, as was the case with Rome, in the early 
stages of her history ; then wars, sometimes un- 
avoidable, but often brought about by treacherous 
and aristocratic rulers at home for the very purpose, 
interfered to prevent the people from maturing- 
great public measures for their benefit. 

Such was particularly the case, with regard to 
what was called the Agrarian Law. This law 
forbid any man to own more than five hundred 
acres of land ; any excess over that quantity, was 
taken away and reserved to the public, or given 
to the poor. This law also gave to the soldiers, 
and to the common people, who had none, lands 
conquered from their enemies. Anterior to the 
introduction of this law, the Patricians, or in 
other words, the Aristocracy, turned all these 
lands to their own benefit. They w^ere, therefore, 
extremely unwilling to give them up ; and such 
was the structure of their political fabric, at the 
time, that they alone had the power of originating 
all laws, the Agrarian, as well as every other. 
They were therefore disposed, as often as they 
dared, to render it nugatory, or of little efifect. 
For four hundred years, it was the source of much 
civil commotion and bloodshed in Rome, and 
often came near being the cause of subjecting them 
to conquest by their enemies. At last, the Aris*- 



21 

tocracy obtained the entire ascendency over the 
people, and from that day began the decline^ of 
the Roman Empire. 

But formidable as this vicinity to Rome, of 
powerful and warlike neighbours, was, to the wel- 
fare of the great majority of the Roman people, it 
was not the only obstacle they had to contend 
with. Constituted as their government was, as 
already stated, they had not the power of original 
legislation. This was invested in the Aristocracy j 
all that the people had power to do, was through 
the tribunes, appointed by themselves, to forbid 
the enactment of any law, which they deemed in- 
jurious to their welfare. They could not origin- 
ate any new measures, however beneficial they 
might deem them to be to their condition. And 
the only method by which they could accomplish 
any thing of the kind, was by treaty with the go- 
verning power. Thus, when the State was at- 
tacked, or in danger of it, by enemies from abroad, 
they could refuse to enlist, or to defend it ; or, as 
the price of so doing, demand, as they often did, 
the enactment, or the strict fulfilment of the 
Agrarian Law. 

The Roman people seem not to have learnt ; 
indeed it is a lesson learnt only within the last half 
century by any nation ; that the legislative power 
of all nations, particularly, in the sense in which 
such power is ordinarily understood, resides in the 
Ufiajority of those over whom it is exercised, ft is 



S2 

Tio subject of wonder, then, even in the absence 
of foreign and hostile nations, that the Roman 
people could not succeed in permanently establish- 
ing the Agrarian Law. To have done this, re- 
quired that they should have ascended to first 
principles : that they should have explored, phi- 
losophically, the primitive condition of man, and 
there have made themselves acquainted with the 
origin and fountain of all right, and of course, of 
all power. We, who live at the present day, 
know that such a search after first principles, has 
not been prosecuted, and attended with success, 
until three or four hundred years have expired 
since the invention of the Printing-Press. This 
important invention, of which the Romans knew 
nothing, was that, of which they, as well as all 
other nations, stood in need, as the means of ere a* 
ting, if 1 may be allowed the expression, an uni- 
form public opinion. Although, as history informs 
us, they seemed very generally to wish for the 
Agrarian Law, yet, as they had no means of crea- 
ting a common sentiment among its friends, as it 
regards the only effectual method of bringing it 
into permanent legislative existence ; this cir- 
cumstance may be reckoned as another of the ob- 
stacles that interposed themselves between the 
Roman people, and the possession of the object of 
their ipost anxious wishes. It is perhaps, not 
susceptible of rigid demonstration, that the people 
>>f no nation, could ever have arrived at the dis 



covery and general adoption of the principles oi 
self-government, without the assistance of the 
Printing-Press : but this, no doubt, will be con- 
ceded, that the period of such discovery and adop- 
tion, must have been greatly more protracted thah 
it otherwise has been. 

There ma}' be those, among my readers, who 
may think it extraordinary, that there could have 
been found among the Roman people, such a num- 
ber of partizans or advocates, in favor of the 
Agrarian Law, as, on its operation being denied 
or obstructed, to lead to the most violent political 
convulsions. But these should recollect the pecu- 
liar nature of their condition. Having no com- 
merce worth mentioning, nor arts or manufac- 
tures of any kind, save those carried on, in a do- 
mestic or family way, and that in the rudest man- 
ner known to all nations, as they emerge from 
barbarity into a state of civil government, if so it 
may be called, they had no means to sustain 
themselves, but by the labors of agriculture. To 
deny them land, then, was to deny them life; or to 
compel them, to purchase its support, of the rich, 
at a price, or on conditions which rendered it 
scarcely worth preserving* 

That we may fully understand the relation in 
which the Roman people stood to their govern- 
ment, we have only to imagine that, here, in the 
State of New- York, the same state of things 
exists; agriculture only supporting life; coni- 



Etiei'ce, arts, manufactures, affording no resources- 
Now, if we allow our land-holders, to own no 
more than five hundred acres of land, and suppose 
them to possess that quantity, each ; then, sixty 
thousand land-holders would possess the whole 
surface of the State, consisting of about thirty 
million of acres ; whereas, taking five for a family, 
there are now, nearly four hundred thousand fa- 
milies, three hundred and forty thousand of whom, 
would not have a spade full of earth, or a thimble 
full of water, that they could call their own ; nor 
any other resources for subsistence ! 

It will be said, indeed, that the fact is not so ; 
and that their resources would consist in their la- 
bor on the soil, whatever might be the number of 
those who should possess it. I answer, that if the 
owners of the soil are owners at all, they are ab- 
solute and unconditional owners; they have the 
right, as the term is now understood, and the pow- 
er, if they please, to say, they will employ no one. 
It would therefore, be an abuse of terms, it would 
be the veriest nonsense, to say, of a mass of people, 
that they have resources, which are wholly in the 
possession of others. If resources they deserve to 
be called, they are those, only, of the beggar, or 
the slave. They come in the shape, only, of cha- 
rity or bondage ; and either of these, are wholly 
incompatible with the high minded feelings of free- 
men. It may then, truly be said, as far as go- 
vernmmt, or social institution is concerned, that 



25 

lliree hundred and forty thousand families', in tke 
case we have supposed are without political exis- 
tence ; while sixty thousand other families possess 
the whole property of the State. If these latter 
shall choose, pven at the price of slavery, to give to 
the former, the means of physical existence, it is 
well ; and they may live. But, if not, for any 
thing which their government has done, they 
must perish I 

I allow, that some abatement is to be made, of 
this great number of the poor, from the fact that 
all the land-holders, cannot be expected to have as 
much as 500 acres, at the same time that they are 
restrained from having more ; and that, therefore, 
a greater portion of the population will be owners 
of the soil, than I have chosen to suppose. ThiSj 
however, is a matter of no consequence ; for 
where principle is concerned, injustice and im- 
poHcy are not to be estimated by numbers. Be° 
sides, if, under the mildest and happiest operation 
of the Agrarian Law, such an amount of miseryy 
as this abatement would leave, was sure to arise 
what ought not to be expected, when there is no 
restriction whatever to the accumulation of 
estates ? When instead of 500, a man might own 
5000, or even 500,000 acres, according to his 
means, of obtaining, or acquiring them ? 

I do not stop now to inquire, why it is, that 
these sixty thousand families should be consider- 
ed as having, under any possible circumstances, a 

3 



26 

just fee-simple title, to the soil of the State, to 
the entire exclusion of nearly six times their 
number of faniihes, as ^ood as themselves ; or 
even to any portion of such lands, beyond that of 
equality. This is not the place ; it shall be done, 
however, in due time, in the course of this work. 
But 1 have drawn this strong, yet I trust, true 
picture of the operation of the Agrarian Law, be- 
cause I have felt, ever since I read it, that the 
opinion of Mr. Raymond respecting it, deserves 
to be controverted, and because I feel that such 
a controversion, falls within the province of this 
work. In vol. 2nd, page 12. and second edition 
of his Political Economy, published in Baltimore, 
in 1823, after declaring that, " an equal division 
of property is not to be desired, in any country, 
because it is not a dictate oj natiire^^^ a very excel- 
lent reason, indeed, if it he true ; he proceeds to 
say that " an agrarian law, ************* is as un- 
natural, as it would be, to reduce all men to the 
same stature, by stretching them on the bed of 
Procrustes." 

I have myself objections to agrarian laws, es- 
pecially in any form, in which they have yet been 
presented to the world— but the reason I shall 
offer in support of those objections, will be very 
different from those of Mr. Raymond. As it re- 
gards man, wherever he is found on the habitable 
fflobe, there is so little difference in the stature of 
his various species, that there would be little use 



27 

for this same bed of Procrustes^ even if it were 
known to have an actual, instead of a fabulous 
existence. If property was as nearly equal, as we 
know stature to be, among mankind, there would 
Indeed be folly e»ou<]^h in complaining. But does 
Mr. Raymond, does any one, after reflecting for a 
moment, consider it to be as unnatural for every 
citizen of Rome to be restrained from possessing 
more than five hundred acres of land, as it would 
be, for example, to make five hundred thousand fa- 
milies, entirely destitute of every kind of possession 
and physically &- politically dependent on a fiftieth 
part of that number ? Are not greater evils, is not 
more misery, likely to be generated, by suffering 
the rich to go on, and engross the State, than 
there would be, by leaving them a moderate 
quantity, and giving the balance to their neigh- 
bors f For myself, I think it admits of no ques- 
tion ; and more particularly so, when there was 
no restriction on the amount of personal property, 
which one might acquire, (though indeed, as said 
before, there was little of this ;) and vi^here, for the 
great mass of the nation, there was no support 
but labor in the fields, and the produce they 
afforded. 

As to the objection urged against " an equal 
division of property, as not to be desired, in any 
country, because it is not a dictate of nature,''^ it 
strikes me, that it is not founded in truth. Un- 
doubtedly the domain of a State or Nation, pre- 



28 

i/ioiis to any subdivision of it among the individual 
who compose it, is property : — not private proper- 
ty it is true, unless it be spoken of with reference 
to other nations — but property, nevertheless, be- 
longing to the whole community. If now it were 
proposed to divide it equally among them, could 
it be said, with any regard to truth — that such 
'^ an equal division is not ******** « dictate of na- 
ture.^^ Would not the very contrary be true ? It 
would be a very singular phenomenon, indeed, if 
we should see them contending for an unequal 
distribution, in preference to that which was e- 
qual. If then, it is a dictate of nature, that men 
in the origin-al allotment of the soil, the only kind 
of property then known, should desire an equal 
division of the same ; how does it happen, that 
their posterity, may not as naturally desire an 
equal division for their benefit, in some shape or 
other? Has the institution of government changed 
the course of nature ? Undoubtedly we must come 
to this conclusion, or reject the reason as unsound 
which Mr. Raymond gives, for opposing the equal 
division of property in question. 

The object of the Agrarian Law, was no doubt, 
to prevent the enormous accumulation of property 
in a few hands, on the one side, and the most op- 
pressive and demoralizing destitution, amongst 
much the greatest portion of the community, on 
the other. Let writers say what they will, of the 
ffood effects of stimulating industry, by holding 



29 

forth to those who may acquire property, the idea 
of uerpetual and exclusive possession, and with- 
out limitation as to ammrtt; still, there is no truth 
so generally received among mankind as this, 
that great wealth in few hands, is always injurious 
to the well-being of a State : and there is scarcely 
a nation on record which has not felt the injury, 
and at some period or other, of its existenccj 
made legislative provision to abate or remedy it. 
Often without doubt the remedy had its evils ; and 
as I believe always. Yet I can hardly credit the 
opinion, that the remedy was ever as much to be 
dreaded as the disease. I apprehend, that it is 
quite possible to show, that when ever nations 
have ceased to exist, or have lingered on a wretch- 
ed existence — ^it has been because there has pre- 
vailed in them no system, or theory of govern- 
ment, whereby property should be as nearly equal 
among the people, comparatively speaking, as 
their stature ; and yet so constructed, as that each 
individual should labor, as it were, exclusively for 
liimseif, except so far as regards contributions to 
the public service. It remains to be seen whether 
such a system can be devised, and can be made 
in an easy and natural manner, to transfer its 
operation from generation to generation ; — but, if 
it can be done, T think I run no risk of mistake 
in predicting that the happiness of nations, willlse 
complete, and their existence perpetual. 

3* 



30 

CHAP. II. 
Of the Rights of Projptrty, 

Perhaps, among all the subjects that have re- 
ceived human investigation, there is none that has 
occupied so much of the time, and exercised so 
severely, the intellectual faculties of man, as his 
inquiries into the origin and nature of the rights of 
property. And perhaps it is equally true, that 
no enquiry vi^hatever, has been attended with so 
little success. It may seem to be the height of 
egotism, of vanity, of arrogance, of ignorance 
perhaps, and I know not what else, to make such 
a charge against the wisdom of past ages. But I 
confidently point to all that has been, and all that 
is, and ask if there be, or have been, any two 
o-overnments of the world, that now have, or that 
ever have had their laws alike each other, on the 
subject of the rights of property? Not any two, 
even of the States of our Union, can say as much ; 
though among them, one would think, was the 
place to look for such a similarity, if it were any 
where to be found. No wonder then, that Vol- 
taire, on some occasion should have said, that 
rights change character, as often as a traveller 
changes post-horses. It was, in truth, no exag- 
o-eratiou ; for the fact is still worse than his repre- 
sentation makes it. In the same nation, even, 
those rights, at two different periods of time are 



31 

Dot the same. And, as if this were not a suffici- 
ent satire upon our understanding of the subject, 
I believe, that there may be cases of the litigation 
of the rights of property in any country now 
known, where, if one hundred tribunals were si- 
multaneously to try them, each of the greatest 
eminence for talents in judicial investigation, and 
each having before them precisely the same 
means of arriring at the facts, but having, how- 
ever, no knowledge of each others' deliberations, 
they would, nevertheless, give a hundred dilFerent 
decisions. 

This " uncertainty of the law," glorious as il 
has been proverbially called, by way of ridicule, I 
take it, is evidence, that the subject is not under- 
stood. If it were so, these varying decisions could 
never happen. Rights are like truths, capable of 
being understood alike by all men ; — as much so, 
as the demonstrations of Euclid. If, what are 
called so, are not so understood, it is proof that 
they are not rights ; for it is scarcely to be pre- 
sumed that they could not be rendered apparent 
to our perception — ^and that they are rather the 
arbitrary commands of power, than anything else. 

But it is better to supply the deficiency of under- 
standing on this subject, which seems to prevail, 
than to make it a matter of reproach. Let us 
see if it is possible to do it. It will be an achieve- 
ment, of no small importance to mankind, inas: 
much, as it will, in my apprehension, go far to ex 



32 

leimiiiate all the moral and political evils, with 
which they are now afflicted. 

There seem to be three things which have au 
intimate and inseparable connection with each 
other. 

These are property, persons and rights. 

Out of these materials are built, or ought to be 
built, all the governments in the world. These 
are all the necessary and proper elements of their 
constitution ; and these being applied as they 
have been, have caused, in my estimation, more 
evil to mankind, than any one can pretend that 
governments have done good ; and, being appliec 
as they may be, will fulfil the destiny of man, b^ 
reversing the results of the past. 

What, then, is property ? I answer ; the whole 
material world : just as it came from the hands ot 
the Creator. 

What are persons ? The human beings, whom 
the same Creator placed, or formed upon it, as 
inhabitants. 

What are Rights? The title which each of the 
inhabitants of this Globe, has to partake of and 
enjoy equally with his fellows, its fruits and its 
productions. 

Let no one pretend, that there is yet other pro- 
perty. Let him ascend with me to the earliest 
ages ; to periods of time, anterior to the formation 
of all governments ; when our race existed, but 
when political institutions did not. For it is to 
these periods, we must ascend, if we mean to 



arrive at a true understanding of the theory of all 
just governments : And it is to these all my re- 
marks, will apply, until I come to offer my senti-. 
ments as to the principles of property which ought 
to enter into their formation. Let no one, then tell 
me that the labor, which the savage of the foresty 
has employed, in the manufacture of his bow, is 
property. That, only is property , which belongs 
to some one. Now it cannot belong to tjie race, 
collectively, for they did not produce it. It can- 
not belong to the individual, who prepared the 
bow — because, it cannot be separated from it ; and 
because, if it could, it could have no physical ex- 
istence whatever ; and having no such existence, 
be would possess nothing more, than if he had 
never made it. Besides, the material, of which 
the bow is made, is the property of mankind. It 
is a property, too, which, previous to the exist- 
ence of government, has never been alienated to 
any one. If it has not been alienated, it cannot 
belong to another. Another cannot have any 
right to make use of it. Before he does so, he 
must obtain the consent of all. What right, then 
had that other, to bestow his labor upon it ? 
What right had he to convert it into a bow, or 
into any thing else ? Instead of acquiring a right, 
thereby, to the bow, he has rather committed a 
trespass upon the great community of which he is 
a member. He is rather, of right, subject to 
punishment, than invested with title, to that which 



34 

he has taken without consent, and appropriated 
to his own use. At least, then, it is evident, that 
Ms labor, bestowed upon the material of the bow, 
does not give him a title to the latter ? Does the 
mere act of taking possession of it, givt? it ? Most 
certainly not. For here, as well as elsewhere, 
consent is necessary. Otherwise, it would be 
quite as correct, for example, (all the members 
having put in an equal share of the capital) for a 
member of a banking company to appropriate to his 
own use, the contents or any part thereof, of the 
iron chest containing the gv»ld and silver belonging 
to the whole. Nor is it an objection to the force 
of this argument, to say, that the iron-chest is al- 
ready in possession of the company, by its agents 
or otherwise, while the domain of nature is not. 
It is here that I deny the truth of the declaration. 
The domain is in possession. The owners — and 
they are equal owners too, are already present, and 
upon it. They have not, it is true, divided it, a- 
mong themselves and given to each what he may 
call his own, anymore than the Banking Company 
mentioned, has done the same thing: but they are 
nevertheless in possession. The analogy there- 
fore is full and complete. 

Will it be said, then, some one may ask, thai 
if an Indian kill a deer, it is not, therefore, his r 
Most certainly it is not. What, in my turn I 
would ask, is to become of other Indians, if there 
be actually fewer deer> than are needed ? Must 



the mere accidental, or even sought for, circuro- 
stance, of any Indian's meeting with, and killing a 
<leer, make suoh Indian the owner of it, to the ex- 
clusion of his fellows, who have an equal claim to 
it, by the right of nature ? Shall one of the 
species feast upon it, and the remainder hunger? 
Besides as in the case of the bow, may not tres" 
pass have been committed in killing the deer also r 
As, in that case, the animal is the property/ of the 
whole, and if consent have not been given, it still 
remains their property, whatever one of their 
number may have thought or done to the contrary. 
For the owners of this deer, are only to be divest- 
ed of their right and title to it, by their own act— *- 
and not by the act of another. 

Again if an Indian collect wood and make a 
fire ; it may be asked, is it not therefore his ? By 
no means. For by the same right that one In- 
dian may gather fuel into a heap, another may 
take it, and scatter it to the four winds. The 
right is as good in the one case, as in the other. 
The materials are as much the property of the 
one as of the other. They belong to neither. 
They belong to the ivhole community— ■and certainly 
not to any part less than a majority. Besides, the 
ground upon which the one has, built a fire, or 
prepared to build it, is as much at the pleasure of 
the occupancy of him who has not built it, as of 
him who has. Each has an equal, and of course 
a conflicting title to such ground, for such purpo- 



36 

ses and in such a manner, and for such time, as 
to him shall seem fit. The ground^ also, as we 
have just said of the materials of the fire, belongs 
to neither. It is the property of the whole. So 
that if one may do, another may undo. If one 
may build up, another may pull down. , If one 
may appropriate, another may dispossess. If one 
may do any thing without the consent of the 
whole, another without the same consent, may go 
and destroy it altogether. The fire being built, 
the space circumjacent to it, is of the same com- 
mon right, and whoever pleases, may approach 
and warm himself as much as he chooses, with- 
out hindrance or obstruction from any one. And 
this too, on the same principles which we see pre- 
vail throughout the previous cases. 

Lastly, let us suppose this Indian, to cultivate 
a field. He plants it. Is it therefore his, in op- 
position to another, who, it may be, desires it, for 
another use ? May not this latter eject the other 
from his possession, with the same propriety, 
that this other attempts to make an exclusive use 
of it ? Most undoubtedly. That which belongs 
to a thousand cannot be made the property of a 
single person, without their consent. Why then 
will not possession give title ? Because that which 
is taken into possession, belongs to another ; and 
not to him who takes it : and because the consent 
of that other, must give title ; possession, if it be 
just, growing out of consent. Why will not labor 



S7 

bestowed upon property in possesion give title t 
Because the property itself, is another's, and bis- 
fore any tahor can be honestly bestowed upon it, 
that other, who alone owns it, must giye hi& con- 
sent. Why will not occupancy give title? Be- 
cause it is only another species of possession : 
and because, here, as before, the consent of him 
who owns, must be first had and obtained. And 
if it be so had and obtained, then is title given 
evenlthough possession or occupancy be not had. 
It is consent f there fore, and nothing but the consent, 
of those who own, which can accord title. And 
yet it is very plain, that if possession, occupancy, 
or labor bestowed, in consequence of either, is 
sufficient to give title, then consent is not neces- 
sary ; and then it would follow, that those who 
are truly the rightful owners, could be stripped of 
that which beyond all dispute belongs to them, 
without any act on their part, to divest themselves 
of their right, and in fact, in opposition to their 
will and consent. If then possession, occupancy, 
or labor superadded, is insufficient to convey title, 
then is my position established; and consent of the 
owners of property, is the only requisite to title 
to its possession by another. That the making u 
bow, the killing a deer, the building a fire, or 
the planting a field, or anysimilar act or acts, can- 
not give title is self-evident ; from this, that before 
any of these acts were performed, there was a pro- 
prietor in actual existence, to whom, and to 

4 



38 

whom alone they belonged, and not to those, 
who undertake, surreptitiously to obtain the title. 
In all these cases, it is apparent, that industry 
has added value to the materials and productions 
of nature, and therefore if any one desire it, it 
may be said by way of complaisance, that there 
is m«)re property in the world than there was, as 
^it came from the hands of the Creator. This, it 
is not so much my purpose to deny, although it 
may seem to controvert the definition 1 have al- 
ready given to tiie term property, as it is to assert 
that, whenever ihis Indian is permitted tq retain, 
exclusive possession of his botv, his deer, his fire and 
his field, or either oj them, government has actually 
begun ; and of course the supposition has vanished, 
upon which I began my consideration of the 
rights of property. For it was to a period of time 
anterior to the formation of all governments, the 
reader will recollect, to which I confined my re- 
marks. If government, had not then thus begun, 
consent could not have been given. There would 
have been none to give it. Without this he could 
not possess aught. With it, he is enabled \o ex- 
clude all others from the use, or enjoyment of 
what otherwise they could enjoy as well as he, and 
with as much propriety. Nor does it alter the 
principle of the thing, that his possession is grant- 
ed, for a limited time, be it long or short, instead 
of being rendered perpetual. For the time be- 
ing, his right of possession, is as absolute, and 



39 

unconditional, as any thing can be. If he have his 
field for one season only, the exclusive right he 
has over it, is as perfect, for the time, as if he 
held it in perpetuity. I know there are those, vi^ho 
are disposed to consider such possession, as it 
were, for a year, to be nothing more than, as it 
is called,, an usufruct, for that time. But what 
I ask is a fee-simple deed, but a perpetual usu- 
fruct ? Certainly, when a piece of land is sold for- 
ever, nothing more is sold than the fruits, which 
can be drawn from the use ot it tor ever. And 
this is what is meant by the term usufruct. 
There seems, then, in such an idea, to be more of 
distinction than difference. All the difference 
which I am able to perceive, is, that in one case, 
the use of land is given for a single year ; in the 
other, it is given without limitation of years, or, 
in other words for ever. 

It may seeni very rigid in me, to insist, that no 
individual of his species, previous to the first 
establishment of any government, has a right to 
appropriate to himself, exclusively, any thing ; 
such, for example, as the articles which have 
been mentioned, or whatever else it may be, with- 
out the consent of those who are joint owners 
with him. But I apprehend it is nevertheless 
true. Investigations of right, are necessarily of the 
rigid character in question. In this consists their 
impartiality ; and in this again is found, the guar- 
antee of their truth. If the fact were not so, there 



40 



would be much reason to suspect the soundness of 
the conclusions, at which we might arrive. An 
Egyptian king was once told " there was no royal 
road to Geometry." Neither is there any such 
road to a full understanding of the rights of pro- 
perty. They must be deeply and patiently inves- 
tigated, or they will never be understood. 

But an illustration of the necessity and pro- 
priety of these truths, may be drawn from what is 
very familiar to us all. An estate is left to a 
number of heirs, in equal right, and an executor 
is ap{>ointed to make the distribution. Before 
the distribution is made, would any one of the 
heirs be allowed to help himself, to what he 
might wish, of the estate ? Would not every one 
see the impropriety of this f Would not every one 
understand, that the proper course, to be pursued, 
was to call upon the executor and obtain his con- 
sent ? The executor, having the power of acting 
for the benefit of all, is the only one competent to 
grant, if to him it shall appear proper, what may 
be desired. So, m the case in which this example 
is offered as an illustration, the whole community 
stand in the place of the executor, and have the 
power, and they alone have it, to alienate to any 
one, or more of their own number, temporarily or 
otherwise, any portion of the property in posses- 
sion. 

Nor is it essential to the reality of this aliena- 
tion, that it should be done in a formal manner. 



41 

In the history of the human race, we know that it 
has, necessarily been, of a character very infor- 
mal. It has not been possible, at all, to assemble 
the entire species, and thus to obtain their con- 
sent, in a direct and formal manner. Nor perhaps, 
on many occasions, has it even been thought of. 
The most that can be said, is, that when one indi- 
vidual, has seen another making a bow, killing a 
deer, kindling a fire, or planting a field, — that 
he has reflected — that there was abundant oppor- 
tunity, mid the scanty population which all coun- 
tries possess in their first settlement, and for ages 
afterwards, for him to do the same ; and that he 
has accordingly acquiesced^ in what his fellow- 
being had done ; and has gone and acted in a 
similar manner. It is thus that we may trace the 
consent^ which, in strict matter of right, I hold it 
is the duty of . each to obtain of the whole com- 
munity. 

But allowing, even, that it was not possible to 
show, that any such cons(^nt as is supposed above, 
was evei^ given ; still this fact alters nothing. 
Principles are unchangeable and eternal ; they 
have ever existed and will never cease to exist ; 
and whether men happen to see them or know 
them, or acknowledge them, or not; still they 
exist ; still they form the rule by which to ascer- 
tain his rights and guide his efforts to obtain 
them. Still do they remain to himj ready for his 

4* 



42 

use, whenever he shall feel that they can he of 
service to his welfare and happiness. 

In speaking of the consent which I require each 
individual to obtain of the whole community, let 
me not be understood, as considering such consent 
as being the origin of each person's right to his 
equal share of the whole property of the globe. 
By no means. This right he has in virtue of his 
existence, and in virtue of the existence of the 
property in question. They are inseparable, 
while one has vital life, or the other physical ex- 
istence. But the consent I speak of, is neces- 
sary, not for the purpose of granting rights, for 
these are born with the being to whom they be- 
long, but, to define and locate his share ; to say hoiv 
muck, what, and where it shall be ; and to secure 
and defend its enjoyment exclusively to himself. 
Without such designation, he could not be assured 
of possession, to the exclusion of another ; since 
that other has as good a natural right, to that 
which is artificially assigned to him, as he him- 
self can pretend to have. As well might it be 
contended that the pleasure of the executor, is 
the source of the right which the heir has, to the 
share he ultimately obtains, of the estate of the tes- 
tator, as that the community in question, confers 
any right on its citizens. The executor is only a 
trustee, for the benefit of the legatees ; the tes- 
tator, he who created the executor, furnishes the 
legacies. So, in the case of the great community 



43 

of mankind. They in their general, or collective 
capacity, are trustees, for the benefit of each indi- 
vidual of the species — and the Creator of the Uni- 
verse is the being, who has furnished the property, 
which is the subject-matter of the trust, and 
ordered it to be distributed to all equally. No act 
therefore, which either the heir to the estate, in. 
the one case , or an individual of the great mass of 
mankind, in the other, is capable of committing, 
is competent to create rights for such individual ; 
and for the plain and unanswerable reason, ^Aa^, 
they are already created; in the first case, by the 
testator ; and in the last, by the Being who made 
us and all we behold. Nor, on the other hand, has 
the executor, or the great community referred 
to, any power to create rights, and for the same 
reason, that they are already created; and that 
there is no discretion given, to either of the 
agents or trustees in question, to alter or. modify 
them in the smallest degree. If, as is often th^ 
case with legacies, the Divinity had specifically 
given, designated portions, of the fruits of his 
Works, to specified persons ; then indeed, there 
would be no occasion for the great community in 
question to interfere. The work, which it is now 
their duty to perform, they would then find alrea- 
dy achieved to their hands ; and they would have 
nothing to do but to acquiesce. Besides, another 
reason, why neither the executor, or the commu- 
nity referred to, is abJe to confer righti, is, that 



44 

they were not the creators, nor of course the 
owners, in their own original right, of the property 
in question. It necessarily existed previous to, 
and independent of their existence, and of course, 
came into their possession, subject to the condi- 
tions and the commands of a power who created 
both. 

It is apparent, then, that no act of the indivi^ 
dual can vest in him rights, which are already in- 
vested : nor add to, nor diminish them, in the 
slightest degree. It is equally apparent, that no 
power exists in the authority of the community to 
modify or alter in the slightest degree, these 
rights. There can exist no poiver whatever' to des- 
troy equality of rights, but the power of violence 
and injustice. Having been originally equal, 
they remain so, and nothing but force or igno-* 
ranee, can keep them out of the rightful owner's 
possession. If however we were to allow that the 
mere acts of converting a bough of the forest, into 
a bow, of killing a deer, of kindling a fire, or 
cultivating a field, could confer %pon the person 
performing these acts, the right of exclusive pos- 
session, no matter for how short a period, it 
would goto controvert and oveichrow all this rea- 
soning. It would go to establish the position^ that 
conquest and force give rig»ht ; since all these acts 
partake more or less of this character. I trust, 
therefore, in an age, and to a people, which has 
long since exploded and rejected what is called the 



45 

right of conquest, as barbarous and unjust, it is 
necessary to say little more in opposition to the 
principle-— that possession, occupancy, or value 
added to property thus in possession, does not give 
a right to the possessor, to continue his possession^ 
It must be evident, that if the possessor have a 
just right to retain it, such right has its origin, in 
another source ; and where, on the other hand, if 
it be not found, he ought to he prejpared to give it 
up ; and place it into the hands of those who have 
a better title. 

1 know there are those who will maintain, that 
all these acts enumerated, and others of a simi- 
lar character, are acts of peace and industry 5 
that they are unconnected with, and unknown to 
violence, and that, therefore, they bear no analo^ 
gy to conquest. It is true indeed by the supposition, 
that in the mere act of taking possession, and fit- 
ting for, and applying to use, no other person is 
supposed to be present. If there were any such 
present, and particularly, such a number as to 
amount to a majority, and these did not object ; it 
would aniount to nothing less than consent. The 
right, then, of the possessor to make exclusive 
use of these objects of property, would rest on that 
consent, and not on the act of his taking possession* 
So, in an other instance, if no one were presentj 
but, by any means, the same majority became 
apprized, of the intention or wish of the proposed 
occupant or possessor, and there was still no objeQ-^. 



46 

tion manifested^ then the same consent is to be 
inferred, and such consent, would be the charter 
of his authority to maintain possession ; instead of 
the act itself of taking the property into his own 
keeping. 

But let us suppose, that consent is in no way 
given, and that still possession is taken without it. 
It is asked, in what way does such possession, 
bear any analogy to conquest ^ Vo this, I answer 
That it is to be maintained by force, (although not 
acquired by it,) if the p ^ssession be disputed. If 
it be not disputed, then are we to infer that there 
is no objection ; and that consent is given. If it 
be said, that the possessor, will not use force, to 
maintain his possession, in case of its being dis- 
puted ; then, I say, that he abandons his claim to 
,its exclusive possession — and there is an end of it. 
Nor is there so much of dissimilarity to a case of 
f onquest, as, at first view, there may seem to be. 
If an army were to invade a portion of territory, 
where there were no forces to oppose them, they 
would of course take possession without opposi- 
tion. If afterwards, the possession was disputed, 
they must fight to maintain it, or they must 
abandon it without contest. If they adopt the 
latter alternative, they are in the situation of our 
Indian, who should give up his bow, to another 
Indian who should demand it. If on the contrary, 
the people of the invaded country, should, by any 
possibility, be supposed to have no objection to thr 



4? 

possession of a portion of their country , by an ar-^ 
my of strangers, it would amount to nothing less 
than consent. If, from a principle of fear, they 
abstained from contending for the expulsion of 
the invaders, it would be a case of conquest, by 
the presence of an army, rather than by the result 
of a battle, or a campaign. As well might the 
squatters, as thfey are called, who settle on our 
public lands, without the consent of the nation, 
contend that possession gives them a just and valid 
title, as that an individual, or a combination of 
individuals, call them tribe or nation, or what- 
ever else you please, should obtain a just and 
valid title, by the same act of possession, or occu- 
pancy of any portion of the great domain of 
nature. 

One point more, it may not be without its use 
to discuss. It will be said that the Indian, for 
example, who has appropriated to himself, with- 
out the public consent, the material for a bow, 
may justly have done so, upon the supposition 
that he has left, for each and every of his fellow- 
beings, materials for bows, for their use, in every 
respect as good as his own. If he has done so, as 
the case supposes, then are those which he has 
left in the forest, equal to his own ; and he can 
have no objection to give up his own, and take 
one of them in lieu thereof, on receiving from any 
one, the amount of labor, which he has bestowed 
upon it. If still he is pertinacious and prefers, 



43 

arhitrarily, retaining his own, to that of receiving 
another ; then, I say, inasmuch as all men are 
equal ; that one's right to be pertinacious is no 
better than another's ; that if one is arbitrary and 
unaccommodating in his choice, so may another 
be ; and that if any one insists upon having a par* 
ticular article out of tvro or more, vtrhich,it may 
be, all acknov^^ledge to be equal, in preference to 
an| other, so also may another insist upon having 
the same. For, as already said, one's right to be 
pertinacious, arbitrary, and unaccommodating, is 
as good as another's ; and if death result from 
their conflicting claims, the party first exhibiting 
the pertinacity in question, is justly chargeable 
with the whole of the blame that may attach to 
the transaction. For equality is as much to be 
maintained in pertinacity of choicCf as elsewhere, 
since it is to be destroyed no where. 

If there be truth in what I have advanced, with 
respect to rights supposed to be acquired, by 
possession, occupancy, or the addition of the la- 
bors of industry, to the subjects of possession, it 
follows, that no nation, whatever, holds any just 
title to the soil on which they are located, on any 
supposed validity in what may be called the right 
of possession. It is competent to the Chinese, to 
say to the people of Hindostan — "we have as 
good a right to what you call your soil, as you 
have yourselves," and they in return, may say, 
'' the soil of China, belongs as much to ^us as to 



49 

5^011.°' The French may say to the English, '• that 
Enghsh territory is the property of France as 
much as it is of England/' and the people of Eng- 
land may claim a similar right in France. Eu- 
rope may say to America " the dominions you oc- 
cupy are no more the property of yourselves, than 
they are ours," and America in her turn, could 
reciprocate a similar declaration. 

If, however, by any just process whatever, it 
can be made to appear, that nations, are, as tiiej 
are, by the consent of a majority of nations, or at 
any rate by a majority of the people of all nations, 
then the case is made out, which places the title 
of all nations to the particular soil they occupy, in 
the consent of every other ; or at least, of a majo- 
rity of them. Nations, it should be understood? 
are the people of whom they are composed, and 
not the soil, dominion or property which they oc- 
cupy. They have, it is true, a right, a natural 
right, to an equal and proportionate share of the 
€arth ; but, where it shall be, and how much it is 
equivalent to, it is for the majority of all the inha- 
bitants of the globe to determine. If, to-day, a ge- 
neral convention of the whole of them, could be 
had, it would be competent for such convention to 
order such disposition of things, as to them should 
seem proper. At least, I think, this point will be 
conceded by every one, if, for a moment we admit, 
that hitherto, there has been no government at all ; 
no appropriation to individuals, or classes of in- 

5 



50 

(lividuals, of specific portions of soil or territory* 
They might apportion the whole as it now is : and 
in such an event, all nations would hold their ter- 
ritories, by aciual and direct common consent. 

This common consent is, however, to be inferred 
with almost as much certainty as if it had been 
formally given by a General Convention. In one 
way, by recognizing it, in an official and formal 
manner, well known among nations ; in another, 
but more informal manner ; by suffering new na- 
tions to rise into existence, greatness and power, 
without interfering to prevent it. 

The present allotment of the surface of the 
globe, among its inhabitants, is probably suchy 
that it is capable, if circumstances admitted, of re- 
ceiving much improvement. There is no doubt 
that many countries are overpeopled, particularly 
for the habits, knowledge and other circumstances 
that now prevail among them ; and they who 
should leave them and go to others, which need 
population, would not only make their own condi- 
tion happier, but confer additional happiness on 
the inhabitants of those countries to which they 
should emigrate. It is not within the scope of 
this work, howevrr, to engage in any speculations 
on this subject. It is sufficient for me, that all na- 
tions, recognise the right of all other nations to 
make such disposition of their acknowledged terri- 
tories, as they shall think proper, and to admit or 
exclude, as members of its political institution, or 



51 

residents, within its boundaries, those born in other 
countries, if to them, it shall seem good. This 
light however, is very rarely exercised ; policy 
seeming to forbid the exclusion of a good and use- 
ful citizen. If we are not to question the natural 
right of every human being to a portion of the pro- 
perty of this globe, equal to that of any other be- 
ing : further ; if we are not to question his artifi- 
cial right, or right in society, as I shall call it, 
equivalent thereto ; it would seem that we ought 
not to question his right, since it seems to belong 
to personal liberty, of which no one, ought to be 
deprived, of choosing freely the country, in which 
he will receive it. But as this cannot be done, on 
the system which I am to propose in the course of 
this work, until all nations shall have adopted it, 
the members of that state or nation, who shall first 
adopt it, if any such there shall be, will be com- 
pelled to be abridged of this portion of their natural 
rights, until such an event takes place ; but they 
will have this reflection to console them : that it 
is not the act of their own gov»^rnment which 
abridges it, but that of foreign states or nations, 
who, it will be seen, are not yet prepared to ac- 
knowledge, what I trust, are the indisputable 
rights of man in society. This observation, I am 
sensible, may not be fully understood, by the rea- 
der, in the present stage of this work ; but if he 
will have the goodness to keep me company with 
Ills patience, and attention, until I can have the 



52 

opportunity to make myself understood, I think, he 
will feel the full force of my remark, and be dis- 
posed to agree with me in opinion. 

It will occur to the discerning reader, tliat there 
IS apparently, some incompatibility in conceding, 
in the first place, to the great community of the 
human family, the power to assign to an individual 
for example a certain specific portion of the pro- 
perty of the globe on which he dwells ; and in the 
next place, to claim for him, the right of having 
assigned to him his equal portion on any part of its 
surface, which he shall choose to name. But, if it 
be borne in mind, that I am discussing the subject^ 
as it has reference to a period of time, anterior to 
the formation of all governments, and, of coursCj 
to a period when money is unknown, I apprehend 
l;he incompatibility, will vanish. It will be seen 
that a division in kind, must, of necessity, be made, 
in the first instance, equally or as near it as the great 
community have it in their power to do so, among 
all the individuals which compose it. If, imme- 
diately subsequent to such division, for purposes 
which shall appear good, a classification of these 
individuals into what we now call nations, should 
take place, and such classification should happen 
to be what now exists, we should have the world 
before us, as it now is ; with the exceptions, that it 
would be equally divided among all its inhabitants, 
and that there is no money. Now. in such a state 
of things, the only way, in which I, for example. 



53 

being a citizen of America, could transfer my share 
into England, for instance, would be, to offer an 
exchange, with some subject of England, of my 
property for his. But if we suppose, that all na- 
tions have absolute and exclusive jurisdiction over 
their own territories, they could forbid this, by pro- 
hibiting me from coming among them. The good 
jDolicy, however, as well as the justice, of such a 
power, may well be questioned. So, also, may 
the power to prohibit any human being from recei- 
ving his natural share of the property of the world, 
in any country which he may choose to name; 
whenever, by the invention of money, and judicious 
modifications of political institutions, the thing can 
be rendered practicable. 

The injustice of thus preventing an individual 
from receiving his proportion of the property of 
the world, in any nation, that to him shall seem 
good, may be made manifest, in an obvious and 
natural manner, by supposing, that the share, one 
with another, which the people of China, for ex- 
ample, receive at the hands of their government, 
is so much superior to the shares, received, one 
with another, by the people of Hindostan from 
theirs, that the former are not wiHing to exchange 
on equal terms with the latter. Wherever such 
an unwilhngness should be found to exist, it would 
be evident, that the party refuping had in their 
possession, as a nation, and of course as indivi- 
duals, more than their equal share of the property 

5* 



5€ 

of the globe ; and that the right, as it is callfed, 
of exclusive jurisdiction, affords the means of se- 
curing to them, this undue share. In a work, 
therefore, the object of which is to contend for the 
aqual rights, of all men, as well to property, as to 
liberty and life (for what are life and liberty good 
for, without property ?) it is not possible to overlook 
this important point, without manifest inattention 
and injustice to the subject. 

It would be an interesting subject of research, 
to ascertain among all nations, the causes which 
have determined them, each to its own particular 
system of the rights of property. It would proba- 
bly be found in all cases, that each system at anv 
given period, is indebted for its principal features, 
to a thousand circumstances, each, almost wholly 
separate from any and every consideration of the 
original and equal rights of man. Whenever 
conquests have been made, or revolutions have 
happened, and new governments have succeeded, 
they have been of a character, such as circum- 
stances, seemed to compel their framers to adopt. 
In the case of the American Revolution ; the go- 
vernments succeeding it, more or less partook, of 
the political evils of the system, which preceded 
them. This will be rendered more apparent, by 
observing, that if it had been possible, that the 
Revolution could have occurred, before slavery 
had been introduced on the American soil, or in- 
noduced only to a trifling extent ; all our govern- 



55 

iiients, both State and National, would have di- 
rected their efforts to destroy it immediately, and 
to prevent its further introduction among us. So 
again it may be remarked, that vast estates among 
us now, belonging to single individuals, derive 
their titles from grants made by our proprietary 
governors, to whom, if the governments of Eu- 
rope, had not given territories, of which, in most 
instances, the donors themselves did not know the 
bounds, neither such individuals, nor any others, 
would have possessed them ; inasmuch as the peo- 
ple of this country in forming a government for 
themselves, would never have sanctioned it. 

Indeed, the right of property, as the term is 
usually understood, is vastly more vague and flucr 
tuating, than most of us are inclined to imagine. 
One would think, that if there beany any quality 
by which property can be known, it is this ; that il 
cannot be taken away without the owner's consent*^ 
For, if it can, it is not easy to understand how it 
can be property. Now, there has been a period 
of time, in the history of this State, when none but 
those who possessed a certain amount, as well as 
kind of property, could vote for our State Senate. 
This body, among other things, had the power to 
give a negative to all laws from the other House. 
If a law came from thence, for the purpose of tax- 
ation, and the Senators disliked it, they could say 
•' no" to it, and thus hold fast their purse-strings« 
Afterwards our political structure, was so far al« 



56 

leretl, as to allow every one to vote for SenatoiSj 
whether they had property or not. The conse- 
quence of this alteration, was, to take the nega- 
tive which the rich formerly possessed, out of their 
hands, and of course their property, without their 
consent, along with it. And yet, under all these 
varying circumstances, the community, generally, 
make no complaint of the violation of the rights 
of property, although on the face of it, it is as 
plain as the sun at noon day, that, to-day, there 
is one rule for determining these rights, and to- 
morrow there is another. 

In referring to this change, in our Senatorial 
System, it is not my intention to complain of it. 
On the contrary, there is no doubt it was perfect- 
ly correct, to have made such change ; inasmuch 
as it is was necessary to preserve the personal 
rights of the million, who had no property ; even 
though it should infringe upon the rights of pro- 
perty in the hands of the few, and the rich. Yet 
it cannot fail to strike every observer, of the least 
icflection, that, if those who possessed property, 
liad an unquestionable right to it, no man or num- 
ber of men, ought to have power to take it away. 
There is, then, something palpably wrong in a 
government, which is thus obliged to destroy 
rights of one kind which it recognizes, in order to 
preserve others. If we make the supposition, 
that all the citizens are equal in point of proper- 
ty, or nearly so, then the conflict which is now so 



57 

conspicuous, between different kinds of rights^ 
ceases, and is seen no more. But to make this 
property equal, presupposes that the present hol- 
ders have not a sound and valid title to it ; and 
government, therefore, if it acted upon the sup^ 
position that such title was not valid, would con« 
tradict its present opinion. 

It would seem, then that in every government; 
the laws of property, have no reference, or very 
little, to original principles. If they had, they would 
be much more similar to each other, than they 
are now ; and much more nearly uniform, in the 
same country at all times. 

But I have not mentioned all the causes that 
conspire, when, revolutions happen, and whea 
there is an opportunity, nay, a necessity to resort 
to first principles, to prevent nations from doing 
so. Not only, when revolutions are over, and 
there is a necessity to fill up the chasms in 
government, which they have occasioneti, are the 
evils of a previous generation, pressing upon the 
new, but those who frame their laws, and who^ 
over all others, are to be presumed to know best 
how to reorganize the political fabric ; in fine, the 
leaders of nations^ are themselves, uninformed, of 
the rights of the people. We live near to a great 
epoch, in the history of our own country^'— the Re^ 
volution that separated us from England=^— we are 
acquainted with the distinguished men, who per- 
formed a prominent part, as well in the separa> 



58 

tion of the two countries, as in erecting the new 
governments that succeeded. We are able to 
know their minds, and to judge for ourselves, how- 
far they were adequate to institute government, 
on principles of original right ; for it was on such 
principles as they understood them, that they sup- 
ported the Revolution and erected the political 
edifices that in consequence became necessary. 

Of all these, no man, more than Mr. Jefferson., 
deserves to be considered, as possessing in his 
own mind, not only " the standard of the man," 
but the standard of the age. If there was any one 
capable of ascending to first principles, it was he ; 
and if it was not to be expected of him, how was 
it to be expected of any on^ else ? Yet Mr. Jef- 
ferson speaks of the rights of man, in terms, 
which when they come to be investigated closely, 
appear to be very defective and equivocal. I do not 
mean, that he thought or meant them so ; for it is 
evident that the contrary was the fact. Let us 
quote him, however ; let us weigh his expressions ; 
Jet us arrive at his intentions in the most legiti- 
mate manner : and then sec, if I am borne out, in 
my declaration. If I am, I shall be sustained. If 
I am not, I shall fail, and deserve to do so. He 
says : — , 

*' We hold these truths to be self-evident ; that 
^' all men are created equal; that they are en^ 
^'dowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 
'■' fights ; that among these arc life, liberty, and 



59 

' the pursuit ofhapjjiness.^^ These are his woi'd^ 
ill the declaration of American Independence. 

Whoever looks over the face of the world, and 
surveys the population of all countries; our own, as 
well as any and every other ; will see it divided in- 
to rich and poor ; into the hundred who have 
every thins-, and the million who have nothinxj-„ 
If, then, Mr. Jefferson, had made use of the word 
property, instead of" the pursuit of happiness,'''' I 
should have agreed with him. Then his language 
would have heen clear and intelligible, and strict- 
ly conformable to natural right. For I hold, that 
man's natural right to life or liberty, is not more 
sacred or unalienable, than his right to propertv- 
But if property is to descend only to particular in- 
dividuals from the previous generation, and if the 
many are born, having neither parents nor any one 
else, to give them property, equal in amount to that 
which the sons of the rich, receive, from their fa- 
thers and other testators, how is it established that 
they are created equal? In the pursuit of happi- 
ness, is property of no consequence ? Can any one 
be as happy without property of any kind, as with 
it ? Is even liberty and life to be preserved with- 
out it? Do we not every day, see multitudes, in 
order to acquire property, in the very pursuit of 
that happiness vi^hich Mr. Jefferson classes among 
the unalienable rights of man, obliged to sacrifice 
both liberty and health and often ultimately life, in- 
to the bargain ? If then property be so essential 



60 

and indispensable in the pursuit of happiness, as it 
appears to be, how can it be said, that I am crea- 
ted with an equal right to this happiness — with 
another, when 1 must purchase property of him, 
with labor and suffering — and when he is under no 
necessity to purchase the like of me at the same 
costly price ? If we are created equal — how has 
he the right to monopolize all, or even an undue 
share of the property of the preceding generation r 
If, then, even the rights of liberty and life, are so 
insecure and precarious, without property — how 
very essential to their preservation is it, that *' the 
pursuit of happiness" — should be so construed, as 
to afford title to that, without which, the rights of 
life and liberty are but an empty name? 

Let no one attempt to evade the question, by 
saying, that if the poor have not parents with pro- 
perty which they can give to their children, it is 
not the fault of this or of any government. It is 
possible, under some circumstances, that this might 
be true, and yet be altogether foreign to the ques- 
tion. But who, I ask; is it, but government that 
authorizes and enforces the execution of wills ? 
Who is it, that allows a man just as he is about to 
return into dust, to say what disposition shall be 
made of that which he now calls his ; who shall 
have it, after he ceases to be; and who shall not r 
Whois^it, that authorizes a man to consider himself 
the owner of property longer than he lives, even to 
the remotest generation ; and clothes him with 



61 

|)Ower, (if he chooses,) to order that even his own 
children, and childrens' children forever, shall have 
none from him ; nor from any one else, unless by 
servitude it be purchased, from others, who may 
happen to possess it ? Who isrit, but government, 
that has placed the rights of childien to property 
in the keeping of their fathers-^and so fixed it, that 
ifthese fathers shall refuse to give to their children j 
what ought to belong to them, as it did to their 
progenitors, they should have no means of obtain- 
ing it f Who was it, that ordered that the father 
should be every thing and the children nothing — • 
if it was not government ? It is government, io 
principle, and often in practice, which has done all 
this. It is government, and government alonCj 
which has determined, that where the former (de- 
ceased) owner of property has given no intimation 
of his wishes — that then it "shall go ; in somecoun« 
tries, all to-his eldest son ; in others, to the sons 
alone, and none to the daughters- — and in others, 
again, to all the children equally. It is govern- 
ment, therefore, which has the power of destroy- 
ing wills altogether, and of making such disposition 
as it shall judge best, of the effects of deceased 
persons. If, indeed, it were true, that govern- 
ment had the power, or rather ability, Oidy to 
make life and liberty equal, and could noT; make 
property equal ; it would go the full length of pro- 
ving that government, was an unauthorized insti- 
tution, alienating the '* unalienable rights," with 
which the Creator has endowed all men^ a very 

6 



62 

great majority of wlioniy have no property of anr 
description ; never have had any ; and while the 
present order of things, exists, never m/Z have 
any. 

The Author of the Declaration of Independence^ 
and those who supported it, " with their Hves, their 
fortunes and their sacred honor," never seemed 
to have perceived, that, if their system of rights, 
in its practical effect, went to give to one human 
being living undier it, the privilege of taking so 
much of the property of the preceding generation 
(whether it came from a parent is nothing to the 
question,) as would enable him to live in idleness, 
on the productions of the labor of others ; so 
should it give the same privilege to all. Otherwise 
there is no equality in the business ; and the de- 
claration, thai the Creator had created such an 
equality, but the legislation of man had destroyed 
it, becomes at once the theory of our government 
on the one hand, and \\s jpractice on the other. 

Besides, if the Author of the Declaration in 
question and its supporters, had intended to say 
that mankind had an equ 1 and unalienable right 
to life, liberty, and property ; they would have 
said it, at once, without using the vague expres- 
sion, *' the pursuit of happiness." How they ex- 
pected this *' pursuit," without property of any de- 
scription, to be of any avail, or at any rate, of a- 
vail equal to that which a fortunate possessor of an 
estate couid enjoy, it is not easy to conceive. 
There may be those, who will contend that 



63 

* sufficient for the day, is the evil thereof;" and 
that what Mr. Jefferson and his coadjutors have 
achieved for their country and mankind, in being 
mainly instrumental in estabHshing the first ex- 
ample oT representative government in the world, 
is honor and glory enough. This is true; but it 
is also true, that had the sao^es of the Revolution 
seen that an equal right to property^ as well as to 
life and liberty, was also among the unalienable 
rights of man, and declared accordin ly, it would 
not have made their glory tke less ; and, if they had 
not succeeded in reducing these theoretical truths 
to practice, sagacious men enough among the ar- 
dent friends of fre^^dom, which this as wf^ll as every 
other country affords, could not have failed to sup- 
ply the deficiency. 

But other associates, in limited views of the ac- 
tual rights of man, had Mr. Jefferson, besides the 
members of the Congress of 1776, which adopted 
his immortal Declaration. Among these, was 
Thomas Paine. Perhaps few men that have ex- 
isted, understood themselves, and the subjects they 
discussed, better than he did. Yet original as 
were his thoughts, he nevertheless, wandered into 
some misconceptions, and left his subject partially 
unexplored by his investigations. That he has 
done so, considering how much rubbish he has 
removed, is perhaps not a matter of wonder. To 
have done more ; to have examined the subject of 
government, in sueh a manner, as to have left no- 
thing to be desired, would have been too muchj 



u 

perhaps, to ask at the hands of humanity. Bat, 
in justice to the reader, in justice to myself, let 
Mr. Paine speak for himself. 

*' When a people agree to form themselves into 
" a RhPUBLic, (for the word Republic means the 
J' public good, or the good of the whole, in con- 
'' tradistinction to the despotic form, which makes 
*' the good of the Sovereign, or of one man, the 
"only object of the government,) when I say, they 
*' agree to do this, it is to be understood, that they 
"mutually resolve and pledge themselves to each 
" other, rich and poor alike, to support and main- 
"fain this rule of equal justice among them. 
" They, therefore, renounce not only the despotic 
" form, but the despotic principle ; as well of gov- 
" erning as of being governed, by mere Will arid 
"fewer, and substitute, in its place, a govern- 
" ment of justice. 

"By this mutual compact, the citizens of a re- 
" public, put it out of their power, that is, they re- 
" nounce, as detestable, the pawer of exercising, at 
" any future time, any species of despotism over 
" each other, or doing a thing, not right in itself, 
*' because a majority of them may have strength 
** of numbers, sufficient to accomplish it. 

" In this pledge and compact, lies the founda- 
" tion of the republic : and the security to the rich, 
"and the consolation to the 'poor, is, that, whai 
" each man has is his own ; that no despotic sove- 
" reign can take it from him, and that the common 
^' cementing principle, which holds all the parts Qf 



65 

a republic together, secures him likewise from the 
despotism of numbers : For despotism may be 
more effectually acted by many over a tew, tban 
by one man over all." — Dissertations on Govern^- 
mentf written in 1786. See Paine' s Works in ttvo 
vols: Philadelphia, 1797. Vol, 1- pp. 327 and ^8, 

The reader will observe, in the foregoing- ex- 
tract, that Mr. Pairie contemplates, the first for- 
mation, at any rate the first jw^rformation of gov- 
ernment ; he goes back, as he imagines, to the be- 
ginning ; and as he Uiere finds the situation of 
things, so he takes care, in the system of govern- 
ment which he marks out, to preserve them. He 
discovers that there are rich and poor ; 1 havf 
italicised the words that the reader may re mad 
them more particularly ; and he provides tha 
" what each man has, is his own," It is obviouE 
therefore, when he wrote the foregoing, that he 
had forgotten what he had wrstteo, on the same 
subject, so early as the 14th February, 1776. At 
that period he published liss " Common Sense," th( 
first page of which has the following pa.^sage : — 

" in order to gain a clear and just idea of the de 
' sign 'and end of government, let us suppose 
'' small number of persons, settled in some seques- 
" tered part of the earth, unconnecled ivith the rest; 
" they will represent the first peopling of any coun- 
"' try, or of the world." 

Yet ten years afterwards, Mr. Paine talks of the 
existence of rich and poor, at a period, when they 
are about, /or the first time^ as he supposes, to or- 

6* 



66 

ganize for themselves, a common and equal go 
vernment. Now, let me make use of Mr. Paine^s 
supposition ; let me take his " small number of 
persons ;" let me conduct them to *' some seques- 
tered part of the earth, unconnected with the 
rest ;" suppose it be an island in the Pacific Ocean ; 
Jet me place them upon it ; and desire them to in- 
stitute for themselves, a just and equal govern- 
ment; where would be his rich and poor 9 Would 
they create them ? Would they do as Mr. Locke, 
the celebrateii author of a treatise on the Human 
Understanding, did when he drew the plan of a go- 
vernment for the State of South Carolina, in the 
first settlement of that State, give to one class 
among them, twelve thousand acres of land ; to 
another class, twenty-four thousand ; and to 
another, forty-eight thousand ; — while the great 
mass of the pop dation should receive nothing ? 

Would they nnt consider the island in question, 
a.s property , and imt on\y as property, hut common 
property, to which each and every of them, had an 
equal right ? In the compact, of which Mr. Paine 
speaks, as entering into the formation of every 
legitimate government, and which the islanders 
are now, by supposition, about to create with each 
other, would property have no consideration? 
Would it form no part of their discussions? 
Would it not in fact form the chief material of it?~ 
Would it not be a source of more deliberation, as 
involving deeper interests, than any and all other 
subjects, which could come before this little com- - 
munity? Would it not be ridiculous in them to 



declare the rights of man, as regards life and li- 
berty, to be unalienable, and as to property, say 
not a word about it? Would they not know, if 
thcj knew any thing, that never yet, for any con- 
siderable time, was life and liberty held and en- 
joyed by the rightful owners, when they had no 
property with which to protect and defend them ? 
Would they not, in the first instance, at least, if 
division were made of their common property, 
make it equal, or as nearly so, as might be in 
their power ? If division were not made, but it 
was agreed to be held in common, would not care 
be taken, as much as in them lay, to alFord to 
each his equal share, of the results of the com- 
mon occupation ? 

Answers to all these questions, present them- 
selves spontaneously. Throughout the wide ex- 
tent of the Globe not a single individual can be 
found, who would not give them in the affirmative* 
How is it then, that a writer so sagacious as Paine, 
and so disinterested in all that he €ver wrote, 
should have committed such a blunder, as that of 
attempting to erect an equal government, upon a 
foundation where inequality had already found an 
existence ; and that without attempting' to extir- 
pate it; on the contrary, taking measures to per^ 
petuate it, by confirming the altogether untenable 
position, that what a man has is his own ^ Surely 
the absurdity is as great, in a man., who contends 
to preserve inequality already existing, as he who 
proposes to create it for the first time. And in. 



68 

this respect, Paine and Locke, equally deserve to 
be held up to mankind, as singular instances of 
errors, which the greatest of men may be led to 
adopt. 

Those who know any thing of Mr. Paine, know 
that he did not want intrepidity and boldness of 
character, sufficient to have taken higher and 
more tenable ground than he did had he discovered 
it to be practicable. He was no man for half-way 
opinions in theory, or half-way measures in prac- 
tice ; because he had good sense enough to per- 
ceive that an object is more easily and economi- 
cally accomplished, when all its features are 
clearly seen and understood, thna when they are 
partially visible, and perhaps confounded with, 
something which is altogetl^er foreign to the 
question. , 

It may not be altogethei inprofitable, to exam 
ine, where the source of his error lay. On look- 
ing over his political writii)»s, it will not be found 
difficult to discover it. * n the first part of his 
" Rights of Man," written in 1791, pp. G4and 65 
of the 2nd volume of the Works before referred 
to, he has the following pHssa^e ; to wit : — 

" It has been thought a considerable advance 
" towards establishing the principles of freedom- 
•* to say, that governmt^nt is a compact, between 
" those who govern, and those who are govern- 
" ed : But, this cannot be true, because it is put- 
'' ting the effiict before 'the cause ; for, as ma? 
"■ must have existed before government existed 



. 69 

' there was necessarily a time, when govern- 
" ment did not exist, and consequently, there 
^' could originally exist no governors to form 
*' such a compact with. The fact therefore, must 
<' ho, that thp. individuals themselves, each in his 
•' own personal and sovereign right, entered into a 
*' compact ivith each other to produce a gavern- 
" ment. And this is the only mode in which go- 
"' vernments have a right to arise, and the only 
'^ principle on which they have a right to exist." 
For myself, I find no difficulty, in both agree 
ing and disagreeing with Mr. Paine, in the posi- 
tions, or some of them, at least, here laid down. 
It must certainly be true, that " man must have 
^' existed before government existed ;" and 
it is equally true, that where government ex- 
ists, governors must exist also. And yet I am 
ready to say, what he declares cannot be true, 
that government is, or rather may be, a compact 
between those who govern and those who are go- 
verned. Thus, when *' each in his own personal 
and sovereign right," to use Mr. Paine's own 
words, *' enters into a compact with each other ^^^ 
for purposes common to the whole, a government 
is formed, consisting of the compact, and nothing 
hut the compact. As to the manner of lis exercise^ 
that is quite another affair. Thus, in one case, 
each and every individual party to the compact, 
may from time to time, meet in full assembly, to 
deliberate over their aflfairs, and to make suqh 
disposition thereof^ as they shall think proper. 



70 

fn such a case, a government would not only ex 
ist, but be in full operation. If I am asked, who 
are the Governors : I answer, the whole Commu- 
nity, in their aggregate or collective capacity. If 
I am asked, who are the Governed, I answer ; 
the individuals who compose this community, 
in their separate or single capacity. The ques- 
tion, of the; exisience, or the non-existence of a go- 
vernment, 1 apprehend, is not to be determined, 
by deciding, whether the public concerns of-a 
nation, are managed, by all the individuals who 
constitute it, in their own proper persons, without 
agency of any sort, or otherwise. And, herein, 
seems to have been Mr. Paine's great mistake. 
He seems to have considered all people as being 
destitute of any government whatever, who had 
not agents or proxies to act for them. He seems 
fo have overlooked the only object of compact, 
which is to create a public will, and a pub,u will 
being created, and being -brought into practical 
existence, no matter how, whether by authorized 
agency, or otherwise, government has com- 
menced, and operates on the governed, and, of 
right also ; on all subjects, which, in their nature, 
are of common possession. 

Mr. Paine observes that " man must have exist- 
ed before governments existed." May we ask how 
long? Perhaps for half an hour. Thus, in this 
first period of human existence, twe men may 
have arrived at a spring of cool water, thirsting, 
and desiring to quench their thirst. They enter into 



71 

a treaty as to which of the two shall drink first. So 
!»oonas it is consummated, a government is formed^ 
even though it be to expire the next moment. If 
there happen to be three instead of two, and two 
of these determine who of the three shall first par- 
take: nere also a treaty, a government is formed^ 
deciding, by majuruy, as perfect in itself, as far as 
its object extends, as any government that can be 
conceived. And it is evment enough that it should 
be so; for, as tne water itseif is of common right, 
Ztid incapable oi being exclusively appropriated to 
eitiier, so also is the chance or opportunity of first 
participation ; convention or compact must settle 
this latter question; and when it does, it performs 
precisely the same function, as if agency, for a hun- 
dred^housand beings having the same rights as 
those which belong to the two or three individuals, 
I have mentioned, had selected the same per»on, 
and given him the privilege of priority. 

It may seem that I am more elaborate in my 
efforts to explode what 1 conceive to be error, on 
this point, than is necessary. But as Mr. Paine 
charged Mr. Burke with not going back far enough 
into antiquity, in search of principles, it became 
him, as he did, to exert himself to substantiate 
the charge. If I now make a simijar charge 
against Mr. Paine, it becomes me to do so too. 
Besides, with us, as with them, the errors I com- 
bat are the errors of the age, and of course are sup- 
ported by tlie best talents which the age affords. 
It is no ordinary refutation which these errors de- 



tnand; since, if principles of government are de- 
rived from periods 'of time and conditions of things ^ 
not so remote as we have, or may have, access to, 
we are in danger of incorporating false principles 
into the political edifice, and of endangering its 
utility and duration. 

Mr. Paine was not alone in the error of these 
vi^ws. Mr. Jefferson, to whom I return with respect 
and affection, for the services he has rendered 
to mankind, besides the omission, or perhaps equir. 
vocal admission, of some of the rights of man, in 
his Declaration of Independence, has shown, in a 
much later work, his deficiency of accurate know- 
ledge of the true principles of government.' 

In 1812 he prepared, for the use of counsel, in 
a suit, in the Circuit Court of the United States, 
for the District of Virginia, in which Edward Li- 
vingston, of the (then) territory of Orleans, was 
plaintiff, and himself defendant, a work published 
by Ezra Sergeant, of New York, entitled "The 
Proceedings of the United States, in maintaining 
the Public Right to the Beach of the Mississippi, 
adjacent to New Orleans, against the Intrusion of 
Edward Livingston." In page 30, of this work, 
I find the following passage: — 

*' That the lands within the limits assumed by a 
nation, belong to the nation, as a body, has proba- 
bly been the law of every people on earth, at some 
period of their history. A right of property, in 
moveable things, is admitted before the establish- 
ment of government. A separate property, in 



73 ■ ^ 

lands, not till after that establishment. The right 
to moveables is acknowledged by all the hordes of 
Indians surrounding us. Yet, by no one of them 
has a separate property, in lands, been yielded to 
individuals. He who plants a field, keeps posses- 
sion till he has gathered the produce; after which 
one has as good a right as another to occupy it. 
^jrovernment must be established, and laws pro- 
vided, before lands can be separately appropri- 
ated, and the owner protected in his possession. 
TiH then the property is in the body of the nationj 
and they, or their chief, as trustee, must grant them 
tu individuals, and determine the conditions of the 
grant." 

Mr. JeiFerson's criterion, it appears from the 
above, for ascertaining when governments begin. 
is ihe time when the nation makes private property 
of lands. Mr. Paine's, when the functions of go- 
vernment are exercised by agents, or governors 
appointed by the people to act for them. Neither 
of these criteria give me any satisfaction. In re~ 
lation to Mr. Jefferson's opinion, I do not under- 
stand why a government should be considered to 
exist, when lands are permitted to be made pri- 
vate property of; and not to exist, when every thing 
that is moveable is in the same situation. Besides, 
inasmuch as I am told, in so many words too, "A 
right of property, in moveable things, is admitted 
before the establishment of government ;" may 
I not ask, who it is that admits? Is it not the go- 
verament? Is it not the common consent or pabliij 
- 7 



u 

authority? Who else has thq power? Not a frag- 
ment of the nation less than a majority. And if 
it be a majority, then is it the nation to all intents 
and purposes. It will hardly be contended, I pre- 
sume, that there is any other body in existence 
Avhich has any concern in this affair. 

But Mr. Jefferson tells us, that "government 
must be established, and laws provided, before 
lands can be separately appropriated, and the own- 
er protected in his possession." Wh)* so? He has 
told us, personal property is secure without the as- 
sistance of what he Calls government. Why may 
not lands be so too? And the use even of 'these, 
for a single season, according to his own showing, 
is entirely secure. I shall be told, perhaps, that 
the possession of personal property would be vin- 
dicated by the/valor of the holder. Would not the 
same thing happen as to land? No, some one will 
be prepared to answer, if it be given in perpetuity; 
numbers would expel the proprietor, by superior 
force, and government must therefore exist to in- 
terfere and protect the proprietor. Why is not 
this same government necessary, to protect the 
personal prope^^ty of the holder? His tenure of it 
also is perpetual; and numbers can be brought 
(o bear on him as well as on the holder of 
land. So also may superior numbers drive off 
him who cultivates a field even for a single season. 
But in both these latter cases, we find that force, 
to obtain which Mr. Jefferson conceives that there 
should exist what he calls government, is altoge- 



75 

ther unnecessary among our Indians, and other 
nations in a similar situation. Why is thisf How 
is it to be explained? 

Simply thus. — The personal property is so equal, 
and the benefits they derive from the. use of the 
soil so equal too, that there exists no motive to 
combination of numbers for the purpose of dispos- 
session. Force, therefore, can never' be needed. 
And when government shall be so constructed ^s 
to make property real and personal, in the fullest 
acceptation of the word, as nearly equal, as we see 
it among the Indians; and still be able to make 
lands private property much in the same way that 
moveable things are now; then shall we see govern- 
Bients exerting their functions, simply by indica- 
ting their pleasure, and not by exerting force. 
They will have only to say what they wish, and it 
will be done. If hitherto we have never seen go- 
vernments acting in this way; if all institutions of 
the kind have been obliged to resort, more or less, 
to arbitrary force, it is because they have been 
made on principles which did not conform to the 
** unahenable rights of man, to life, liberty, and 
property." 

if, to what I have said, it were necessary to add 
any thing more in favour of my own views, as to 
the time when governments are to be considered 
as being in existence, I might appeal to the very 
first paragraph above quoted from Mr. Jeflferson? 
where he says, " That the lands within the limits 
fi^sumed hy a nation, belong to the nation as a bodv^ 



76 

has probably been the law of every people ob 
earth, at some period ojf their history." The very 
act of a number of individuals, sufficient to consti- 
tute what may be called a nation, after voluntarily 
consenting to associate themselves in one body, I 
say, the very act of accepting the lands within such 
limits, (or what is the same thing, assuming them, 
with the consent, express or implied, of other na- 
tions) is, (not sovereignty) but an act of sovereign- 
ty, which originates from their collective charac- 
ter, and which acceptance it is perfectly competent 
for them to signify, either, as said before, in their 
own proper persons, or by an agent or agents se- 
lected by them for such purpose. 

In all that I have urged on this subject, I have 
not had it in view to play the critic, as to the pro- 
priety of the use of this or that term, in preference 
to another. All that I have desired, is, to come 
at the truth ; and, if I can establish it, to be al- 
lowed to say, that governments have existed as 
long as man has existed, in some form or other ; 
and to some extent or other ; sometimes scarcely 
discernible, and at others occupying such a por- 
tion of our mental vision, as almost to put it out of 
our power to recognize the two extremes of their 
existence. I trust that I have succeeded ; that it 
is apparent that nations are governments, and 
governments, nations ; that they are in fact con- 
vertible terms. If it has happened that ^vriters of 
great celebrity, have supposed, that there are na- 
tions, which have no governments ; no legislation 



it is because there was so wide a difference between 
them, and those which had been most the subject 
of their contemplation, in their forms, extent , pur- 
poses and poiverSf that they were ready to conclude, 
that the one was every thing and the other no- 
thing. But we should remember, that legislation, 
the function of government, is capable of being ex- 
ercised in more ways than one ; and that it is as 
much entitled to be considered as indicating the 
existence of government when it deliberates on the 
disposition of a grain of sand, as when it exerts its 
labors over the destiny of a hundred millions of 
people. 



CHAPTER III. 

On ihe duration of the Rights of Property » 

In the discussion of the rights of property, in 
the preceding chapter, there has been necessarily 
much of argument, of a negative and correlative 
character. It seemed essential, to a right under- 
standing oT the subject, that the discussion should 
tend to show what was pi^operty, by shewing what 
it was not. It may be asked ; may not a man ex- 
pand his lungs and inhale the air ; may he not 
open his eyes, and enjoy the light ; may not his bo- 
dy occupy the space which it actually does ; with- 
out any necessity to suppose the existence of le- 
gislation ? Most certainly. These are function si 

7# 



78 

hecessarily attendant on individual existence-—and 
are enjoyed alike by all ; and herein too consists their 
equality* They are in the nature of the rights of 
jtersons, and do not, of necessity, hold any relation 
to the rights of property. They are as much en- 
titled, so to be considered, as, what I may call, my 
negative right, of not being injured by another. 
About all these there is no dispute. Mankind are 
all agreed on these points. No controversy exists, 
and there is no occasion to argue the matter fur- 
ther. 

But, as to the possession of the soil and the ma- 
terials of the world, or rather as to the right of pos- 
session, there is much dispute. It is this question 
which is to be decided. And, in order that it may 
be decided, correctly, it is proper for me to have 
shown, as I think I have done, that jpossessioUj 
occupancy y or labor, superadded, have not the fac- 
ulty of conferring right ; and for two obvious rea- 
sons ; 1st : because rights exist of themselves, 
without being created or conferred, have always 
existed- — and always will exist j smce no one, of 
right, can destroy them ; and 2d, because pos- 
session has no right, unless it be accompanied 
with the consent of those to whom the property be- 
longed ; having this, it is altogether useless to en- 
deavor to derive title from possession : and not 
having this, any supposed title is good for nothing. 
Any possessor of property, therefore, who should 
be foolish enough to undertake to derive his ti- 
tle to retain possession, merely from the fact of it^ 



being found in his hands—rather than from the 
consent of the community, would place his tenure 
of it, upon a very insecure foundation* For if pos-» 
session is to give title, the act of fraud, or larceny, 
the violence of the robber, or a licentious mob, 
might soon confer as good a title to it, on another, 
as himself possesses. It becomes all then, to be 
very careful how they resort to such a source for 
title. If they can find no better, they may soon 
be without any, and they would then wish they 
had not looked to that which avails so little. 

As it regards my habit, thus far, of contempla- 
ting the materials of the world, and these only, as 
property — I will only say, that, when government,, 
or society, or legislation, or whatever other sy- 
nonimous term, we may make use of, shall give 
me marble, for example, as a material upon which 
to exercise my industry, at as cheap a rate, as that, 
at which nature has furnished it, that is, for no- 
thing ; I shall have no particular objections, the7i, 
to call the labor, which I shall bestow upon it, in 
converting it into a statue, by the name of proper- 
ty ; though I should still be of opinion, that the 
material only deserves the appellation, the labor, 
skill &c. being the result of personal faculties, and 
only increasing its value. Both the material and 
its value being mine, (the one by way of my ori- 
ginal right to property — the other by right of per- 
son) makes it a matter of little consequence what 
is thQ name we call them by, so that I do not lose 



eo 

the substance, through any misapplication of 
terms. 

I am as much averse to refinements, as any 
body, especially unnecessary refinements in dis- 
cussions which ought to be, and in their nature are, 
of very easy comprehension. But I have been 
driven into an indulgence of them beyond my 
wishes, by the clouds of error in which I have 
found the subject enveloped, and, in self defence, 
have been obliged to depart from a plainer course, 
than I had intended to pursue. , 

Besides, it will be seen, that my view, of the 
best application of the industry of man, is a se~ 
parate, single, and exclusive application, such as 
that which now prevails ; an application, that looks 
for his own individual welfare, almost exclusive- 
ly. So far, therefore, as regards this industry^ 
it never entered into my contemplation, nor does it 
now, to allow, in any theory of my own, that the 
government should take its management under 
their control, or in any way interfere with it, other 
than as the prosperity of the whole may require it, 
•in relation to commerce with foreign nations. 
In the very nature of things, I take it to be a truth 
not to be controverted, that each individual knows 
better how to apply his own industry, his own fa- 
culties, advantages^ opportunities, property <kc. 
<fcc. than government can possibly do ; that, 
therefore, the aggregate result of all these appli- 
cations, will be much greater, when each is suf- 
fered to" go on^ in his own way, undisturbed, and 



81 ' 

iin molested, than if the sovereign power shoalcl 
direct the mode of employing the industry of 
each individual. And the reason is obvious 
enough. The sovereign power, before it can be 
able to know what would be the best applicationj 
must receive its knowledge by communication 
from -all the members ; and before this can be 
done, the occasion will often pass away^ which 
rendered instructions from the Public Authority 
necessary. Time and labor, therefore, will be 
lost, which otherwise would have been saved, 
xlnd the larger any community is, both as to num- 
ber and territory, the more injudicious would 
such a system be. 

As, therefore, I did not contemplate that the 
direction of the industry of the individuals of a 
community, should come within the limits of their 
power, except in so far as necessary and useful 
Public Works, such as Roads, Bridges, Canals, 
&c. were concerned ; it was not necessary for me 
to examine the the subject, any farther than to 
afford eiach individual, his equal share, of the ma- 
terials of the world, on which he dwells, that he 
may have whereupon to exert his industry, in the 
pursuit of his happiness. 

This, then, is the extent of my object. In 
some shape or other, this share or proportion 
must be obtained ; and it is proper to continue to 
obtain it, in such a manner as to afford the least 
disturbance, and least destruction to the industry 
of the existing generation. Such is the quality f 



82 

which any new system, ought to possess, which it 
may be proposed to introduce. 

But there is an imposing obstacle, in the way 
of accompUshing the introduction of any such new 
system. This consists in a very general misun- 
derstanding of the term, or duration, of the nghts 
of profDerty. They have been conceived to have 
a longer existence than is actually/due to them : 
and this it will be seen, I think, in the future pro- 
gress of this work, has been a very prominent 
and active cause, of the enormous disparity, in 
possession, or wealth, which now prevails through- 
out the world. It is an important question then 
to answer. How long does a man own pro- 
perty ? 

Let us begin an investigation of this question, 
in-as elementary a manner as possible. 

If a world like our own, were made, and there 
was no inhabitant for it, it could not be property ; 
for, before there can be property, there must be a 
proprietor : some one to own it. 

If such a world were made, and only 07ie inhab- 
itant placed upon it, then would it be property ; 
and the whole of it would be his. There would be 
no occasion to say a word about rights ; he would 
possess all, in himself, there being none to share 
with him. If his existence, and that of the world, 
too, was perpetual, he would own it in perpetuity. 
He would own it for ever. If he could live only a 
limited period, he would own the world for such 
period, and no longer. When he ceased to exist 



lie would cease to possess or to own, as mucli so 
much so as if, he being yet living, the world itself, 
were struck out of existence. For it is quite as 
possible for a man to own, when there is nothing 
to be owned, as it is for him, who once was, but 
who is not, now, to own that Which does actually 
exist. Either ceasing to have being, the ex- 
istence of that relationship, between owner and 
owned, between possessor and possessed; which 
we call property, ceases also. It cannot survive 
the disfeolution of that relationship, which consti- 
tutes its only feature. His right over the earth 
while he lived, would be perfect and entire ; when 
he died, his right vvould die also. For when he is 
d6ad, he is nothing but inanimate matter ,• no- 
thing but dust, which even the winds of Heaven 
may scatter where they list and which no being 
short of Omnipotence is able to gather together 
again. Dust cannot be the owner of dust. It is 
being, endowed with intelligence, that is capable 
of owning or possessing. Mind, is its essential 
requisite. One tree cannot own or have property 
in another. When mind is absent, there is no 
proprietor. When matter is absent, there is no 
property. Matter cannot own matter. It is per- 
verting every thing to suppose such an absurdity. 
May not the being, it is asked, who has once 
owned property, and is now deceased, have his 
wishes gratified, by having such disposition made 
of that which was once his, as he m^y have de-' 
sired in his life-time ^ I answer, no ; unless he 



created it ; unless, indeed, he brought it into ex 
istence with his own hari«is. Aiid on such a sup- 
position mi^ht I not ask, what kind of a creator 
would he be, who should create a work, that would 
outlive himself ? How much more reasonable is 
such a wish than that of the reptile who should 
have crawled over a fine block of marble in the 
course of its life-time, and therefore should have 
desired to dictate its future destiny ? How much 
more reasonable is man ? Destined to have only 
a short existence on this globe, which certainly he 
has not made, what is he but a tenant at time, who 
when, his lease of life expires, must resign all pre- 
tensions to interfere with, or control his successor, 
if there is to be one ? And if there is to be no suc- 
cessor, of what use is it to contend, that such and 
such a disposition, shall be made of what was unce 
his property, when there is no one to carry it into 
effect ? Besides if the supposed single owner of 
the globe, on the supposition that he is to have no 
successor, is incapable of owning after he is de- 
ceased, for such is evidently the fact, since matter 
cannot have property in matter, why should he be 
supposed capable of owning, when it is known that 
a successor is to appear ? Does a successor bring 
into the world an; rights but those which belong 
to himself ? Does he confer rights also, on him 
who has once been, which he could not have had 
without the appearance of such successor, and that 
too, to the prejudice of him who confers ? Are 
the predecessor's rights made more, and the sue- 



85 . 

cesser's made less, because both have lii^ed, and 
lived at different times? If the predecessor could, 
of right, have had no disposition made of that 
which he once owned, in the event of there being 
no successor ; could he have such right, in the Case 
a successor should appear ? To say that he 
would, would be to say that he had power over the 
destiny of his fellow-being, coming after him, 
when if he had lived at the same time with him, he 
would have had none at all. 

Besides, let me ask, as the successor, on the 
supposition that there is to be one, is precluded, by 
absence, from disturbing, or in any way interfe- 
ring with his predecessor ; why, when the latter is 
absent, that is, when he is deceased, and no 
longer in being, why should Aebe allowed to inter- 
fere with one, who did not, and could not trouble 
Mm ? Was it not enough for him, that he enjoyed 
his term of life, as to him seemed good ? that he 
wrought when he pleased, and rested when he 
chose? That he added value to the materials of 
nature by his labor and his skill ; and destroyed it 
again, in the satisfaction af his own wants ? If the 
fruits of his industry increased beyond the amount 
of his consumption, whose fault was it but his ? 
Besides, if the world is not a desert or a wilder- 
ness when he quits it, as perhaps it might have been 
when he found it, does it grieve him, that he can- 
not reduce it to that condition again ? And having 
run the career he chose to run, is it unreasonable 
that his successor should be allowed to do so too f 

-^ 8 



Besides, admitting, a moment, that this frrst pos- 
sor of the earth, had a right to order any given dis- 
position of it, how has he acquired the right over 
his successor, to compel him to execute ii ? And 
suppose him to have the right to compel his suc- 
cessor to execute it, where is his poiver, in case of 
disobedience f And if he have no power, may I 
not ask, what sort of a right is that, which has not 
power to support it ? It is not so with rights 
among men. All the rights they have, they havt 
power to support. They may not always see, ex- 
actly, how far their rights extend, but when they 
do, there is no power able to deny them their en- 
joyment. But it is not so with the rights of dead 
men. They are a nullity. They are a mockery 
of the human understanding:. 

Again, let me ask what is the purpose of this 
posthum'ous dominion over property? Is it to give 
pleasure to the dead? They cannot feel. And 
besides if they could, such pleasure might be more 
than compensated by the pain of the hving. Is it 
to avert any calamity, or procure any blessing du- 
ring life, which otherwise could not be averted or 
proQured, that he should enjoy this dominion? 
This is not possible, for no effect of this dominion 
is to happen until its possessor has ceased to be 
capable of any sensationiof either suffering or joy. 
Is it to gratify vanity by enabling him to say 
" Such is the property I leave you?" Generous 
man! I would reply, who leave behind you, what 
you cannot carry away with you! As much is you? 



.;, 87 , 

generosity to be admired, as the criminaFs on the 
gallows, who, when he is just about to be executed, 
declares he is determined to commit murder no 
more ! 

But, perhaps I shall be told that this supposed 
first occupant of the globe not only desires to leave 
it, but his wisdom and experience also, as a lega- 
cy to his successor. All this is very good; but 
where it is made imperative, on any one, to receive 
wisdom and experience from another, there is 
very great reason to doubt whether what is called 
by those names, deserves to be esteemed as such. 
It maybe the height of ignorance and folly. And 
if it is not made imperative, then it loses the cha- 
racter of a ivill, and assumes that of a simple re- 
quest, which is the most that should be desired. 
But even this request made to the successor, to 
profit by the wisdom and experience of his prede- 
cessor, is altogether as unnecessary as it is imper- 
tinent. Whatever of profit is to be gathered from 
such a source, is open to him, and his self-love 
will stimulate him to avail himself of it ; he will 
add it to his own acqusitions, and then it may safely 
be calculated, that the wisdom of the latter is great- 
er than the former, since he possesses the sum of 
both. It will be evident, then, that the successor 
is to rule, during the period of his own existence, 
even on the score of being better qualified to do so. 
In this view, then, the right, as it has been called^ 
of making a will, of directing how property should 
be disposed of after death, is without foundation. 



88 

For the sake of argument, and for the purpose 
of canvassing the merits of this question with the 
utmost severity, let us admit that the wisdom of 
the two persons, now under consideration, is equal 5 
still, as the case admits of other successors, who 
have also their equal rights, (rights be it said, too, 
which cannot interfere with the predecessor) these 
latter would be infringed, if a single individual, 
merely from the circumstance of prior existence, 
could overrule what belongs to them, each in his 
own proper time, as much as it did to the first of 
the race. For, here, as every where else, it is the 
first law of justice, that the wish of a majority 
should prevail over that of a minority ; and such a 
law here cannot be violated, without making one 
man a monarch over all who succeed him, to the 
end of time. 

Hitherto I have treated this matter as it had re- 
ference to the power, I mean the right of power, 
of the first possessor of the world, over his succes- 
sor or successors. Let us now examine it in an 
inverse order. If it has appeared that such pos- 
sessor cannot confer rights, to have force after his 
decease, on a being who comes after him, may we 
not say, even if such successor should happen to 
ihinlc to the contrary, that he cannot and does not 
receive them ? That which cannot be given or 
granted, cannot be taken or received. The one 
implies the other. They cannot exist separate. 
If one falls, so does the other also. It does not 
mend the matter, that the person supposed to re- 



• 89 

ceive believes that, he receives, from some validity 
which he imagines to exist in the wilK For rights 
are not founded on deception; on self-deceptionj 
any more than on any other deception. They ex- 
ist of themselves, of a necessity which it is not pos- 
sible to evade. To man they belong, in conse- 
quence of his being. They are his, becaUse he 
lives, and because they are necessary to him. 
When he perishes, they perish with him, inasmuch 
as they are no longer useful to him, and inasmuch 
as, in the act of perishing, he returns again to the 
condition of inanimate matter, which has no rights 
and can have none; for rights can belong only to 
living beings. Besides, if deception could give 
lights, when we speak of the successor or succes- 
sors, why should it not give rights when we speak 
of their predecessor? And if it were to be admit- 
ted, what consequences might not follow? For 
example, such predecessor might imagine, contra- 
ry to what I trust I have amply shewn, that the 
world henceforv/ard, forever, was entirely at his 
disposal ; that whatever he ordered must take 
place. Might he not then say to his successors?^ 
** Touch not these premises! I will that this 
'' fair domain of nature, on which I have taken^ 
" my pleasure, shall remain to the wild beasts, 
'Sand to the fowls of Heaven; that no human being 
" shall exist upon it; and that he shall be driven 
' ' away so soon as he shall dare to intrude himself 
" upon it."* 

^ A/f ered from Barlow 's Address to the privileged orders, p. 3h 

*8 



90 

Would such a destiny of the earth, be consider* 
ed as the emanation of human reason ? If not, 
why then should powet be given to create such a 
destiny ? And if not such a destiny, so flagrantly 
unreasonable, why any destiny, however little un- 
reasonable ? Let no ingenious sophist, spreading 
his webb to catch human rights, pretend, that even 
as now organized, governments do not fail to take 
judgment of such wills as emanate from minds 
which they deem insane, and to declare them 
void. It is right that they should ; but it is also 
right to correct errors of judgment, which in com- 
mon acceptation, do not amount to insanity, and 
pronounce them void too ; for every species of in- 
judicious exercise of the power of the testator, is 
a species of ins,anity, and it is competent to the 
community who survives him, and who alone have 
any interest in such exercise, to remedy it, and it is 
their duty to do it. In order to do it effectually, 
it is requisite to supervise every will, and wherein 
it does not conform to the best interests of the 
Jiving, for they are the judges of it, and the only 
party interested; or where it contravenes those in- 
terests, to render it null and void ; and to supply 
the deficiencies, created thereby, in such manner 
as to them shall seem good. Wills, under such 
circumstances would be a nullity ; and the next 
step to be taken, would be, to declare that they 
should not be made at all. 

It is evident, then, that what cannot be given, 
•cannot be received ; that what cannot be received 



91 

cannot be retained, but must be given up, to the 
rightful owner, whenever he shall appear to claim 
it. Just as the innocent holder of stolen goods, 
(holder, perhaps, by inheritance) must give them 
up to the lawful owner, and bear the loss, or seek 
his remedy, if there be any to be found. If a part 
only is illegally held, such part only is to be surren- 
dered ; the rest retained. There being no right 
10 retain by force or fraud, that which does not 
belong to the retainer, punishment is due to those 
who are guilty of such an act. 

It is apparent, then from all I have said, that 
there is no such thing, in a correct considei atioiv 
of the matter as testator, will or heir ; that they 
are mere fictions of the law ; and whether meant 
or not meant, have had, and ever will have, as 
long as they shall be suffered to exist, the effect 
to transfer property from him who has the just 
and true title to it, to him who has not. If they 
were not mere fictions; if the power of making a 
will was a reasonabl-e and natural power ; then 
the son of a soldier, might inherit his father's 
courage; the son of a poet, his father's inspira- 
tion ; the son of an artist, his father's skill ; the 
son of a statesman, his father's political talents : 
and the,daughter of a woman, her mother's beau- 
ty and accomplishments. Nay more ; the daugh- 
ter might inherit, since she has also the same fa- 
ther, the qualities allowed to the son to inherit : 
and the son, since he has likewise the same mo- 
ther, might inherit the qualities ascribed, to thf^ 



9^ 

daughter. Nor should we stop here. For it the 
good pergonal qualities of parents, could descend 
to the children, so would their bad ; and we 
should not fail to see it happen, that when a son 
inherited an estate from his father, he would often 
also inherit a rope about his neck. 

It is true I have considered the question,^ only, 
with reference to the possession of the earth, by a 
single individual, at a time ; and yet, such are the 
multitude of absurdites, enormities, and acts of 
injustice that would result, by admitting the prin- 
ciple that property should be subject, in any de- 
gree, to any disposition, decreed or desired, by 
its former possessor. We are yet to see,, whe- 
ther the matter would be in any measure different, 
if, instead of there having been placed upon this 
globe, only this one inhabitant, the number should 
have been sufficient to compose the population of 
many nations. 

I shall, v/ithout further trouble, suppose this 
number to be divided into as many separate na- 
tions, ?as to them is agreeable ; and that thev 
have also, with like good will, apportioned the 
entire surface and property of the earth in such a 
manner as to be as nearly equal as they can make 
it, and to be satisfactory to all. 

Now let us take any one of these nations, and 
apply the reasoning which I have used, with re- 
gard to the single possessor, so far as it may be 
applicable, and so far as it is not, supply the defi- 
ciency in such way as circumstances shall require. 



93 

If the population of the nation chosen for illus- 
tration, be supposed to be immortal, and that there 
are no more to come among them, the duration of 
the right of property, as a nation, would be eternal. 
If there be any reason to controvert this, it will be, 
that the division of the earth just supposed to be 
made among the nations, turns out afterwards not 
to be equal. In such case, it must be admitted, 
the nations collectively, would have the power to 
establish equality ; and to re-model any appropri- 
ation of property to any nation, until this object 
should be accomplished, or so nearly accomplished, 
as to amount to a matter of indifference, whether 
any further attempts to obtain it were made or not. 
When such equality was established, although the 
nations jointly, would have, undoubtedly, the right 
to cause the different nations, to change locality, 
at such times as might be ordered by themselves ; 
yet as no advantage could, and much disadvantage 
would, accrue, by such change, there would be no 
inducement, to order it, and, of course, it would 
not be done. 

Here, as the nation is supposed to be immortal ; 
so also are the individuals ; and, of course, there 
can be no exercise of the power of the will. 

Let now our nation remain the same, except 
that they die at no distant period, aad that they 
have successors. 

They would have a right to use their property in 
common. They could agree to labor m common. 
They could so order it, that no individual should 



94 

pluck an apple, without public permission, nor have 
it without charge. They might thus go on, and 
expend the term of their existence. It would be 
perfectly competent to them to adopt such a me- 
thod of enjoying the property assigned to them, by 
their sister-nations. Whether it would be the 
most judicious, and profitable method, is another 
question. But, deciding upon adopting it, no one 
could question their right to do so. 

Let us see how our previous deductions with re- 
gard to the power of wills, will apply here. We 
have shown that an individual possessor of the 
world, (and if it were only a portion of it, it would 
be the same thing,) cannot bestow it, when he is no 
more. When a nation dies, it is in the same situ- 
ation : for neither itself, nor the individuals compos- 
ing it, have power to bestow, to have effect, after 
they cease to exist. For principles are not changed 
by any multiplication of the number of objects or 
persons to whom they may be applied. Justice is 
the same, whether it be applied to hundreds, or to 
thousands, or to millions, or to no one. Besides, 
here are some new problems to be solved. I said 
than an individual, by permission, might pluck and 
eat an apple. In its consumption, it would perish, 
and we should see it no more. But this would not 
be true of every thing. An arrow, or a bow, would 
be obtained by permission of the same authority, 
but it would not perish in its use. It would re- 
main, and might survive its proprietor. It would 
be his, because obtained of the proper authority ; 



and because such authority has given it to hiiUj le 
virtue of his equal right With thein. If we allow 
to him the right of giving it away, when he is 
about to die, why not allow him also, to give away 
his undivi<led portion of the soil; his undivided 
portion of any other property which is com- 
mon to them all ? As it might be among 
us ; when a man here, is about to die, why not 
permit him to will away his portion of the Grand 
Canal? Of all our public roads and streets ?— 
Even of our very lamp-posts ? These latter, too, 
being divisible, on the principle that wills are va- 
lid, ought certainly, and might easily be specifical- 
ly devised. Surely no one will pretend to say 
that the testator has no property in any of these. 
He most certainly has, for they have been paid for 
with (what he considers, and what is generally con- 
;3idered) his own money. It is true it is not in the na- 
ture of Bank-stock, for he receives no certificate, 
no scrip, farther than a receipt for payment ; but 
in every other respect there is no difference. If 
this be denied : if it be said, that he has already 
given it away to the public, and that it is, there- 
fore, out of his power to give it again ; I ask, who 
are the public ? Is he not one of them ? Is he not 
one of the community? If so, he has, at least, 
given some portion to himself. He is at least an 
equal o\vner with his fellow-citizens ? Nay, more, 
according to the prevailing rules for measuring 
the amount of property belonging vo different own- 
ners, or claimants, he is a greater ov/ner, inas- 
much as he has contributed more, than many of his 



8t5 

tVliow-citizens. Nor is it to be said that it can 
not be willed away, with propriety, inasmuch as 
it was given for the purpose of making the testa- 
tor's other property more valuable. For, may not 
this testator, having a farm, will it to A, and at 
the same time, give to B. tlie fences thereon, or a 
tree or trees f IVIa^ he not separate and divide his 
property as he shall think fit ^ If he may not, he i? 
circumscribed in the exercise of his rights, and if 
he may be circumscribed at all in this respect, he 
may be deprived of them altogether. 

As the matter now stands, then, if testators arc 
prevented from willing away, (and that too, every 
day, forever,) even our very lamp-posts, it is be- 
cause the governing authority has determined, as 
far as this description of a man's property is con- 
cerned, to be the heir of the dying man. If wills 
are sacred : if they exist in matter of right, at all, 
why is this suffered to happen ? Why will not the 
public authority, on any principles which may be 
agreeable to them, ascertain how much of this 
canal ; of this road or street, or how many of these 
lamp-posts «fec. &c. belong to the dying man in 
question, and inform him thereof, that he may 
make disposition of it, as he would of any other por- 
tion of his estate f It is no answer, to say, that 
they are not divisible; at least their value is; and 
whatever the dividend of the dying man should be 
determined to be, the Public Power should provide 
it, and place it at his disposal. It should either do 
this, or renounce wills altogether ; for otherwise, 
it is not possible to be consistent. 



97 

But, conclusive, against the propriety or justice 
of the power of making wills, as this train of rea- 
soning will probably appear to the candid readers 
the subject is still capable of a*'more rigid, and, as 
it werCj a mathematical mode of treatment; such 
that no man, after having understood it, can pos- 
sibly have a moment's hesitation in renouncing it 
forever. 

The positions taken by those who defend the va- 
lidity and the justice of the power of making vvillsj 
seem usually to be these: 

1. That men acquire property by their industry, 
economy, and skill : 

2. That being thus acquired, it is their own to 
dispose of, henceforward forever, as they shall 
think fit: 

3. That, as a consequence, no one, majonities 
or others, have any right to dispossess them of it, 
or in any way abridge their power to dispose of 
it, as they shall desire: and 

4. That they ought to have this power, of ac- 
quiring and disposing of property, in order to pro- 
vide for their children, relatives., and friends. 

liCt us now examine into the truth of these po- 
sitions. In order to do this effectually, it will be 
necessary to go back to the first period of man's 
existence, ^hat shall we find there ? Nothing 
but one wide common; a wilderness, on which man, 
for the first time, has imprinted his footsteps. Of 
course it belongs to all eqally. It is an undivided 
property, in which each has equal right; and no 

9 



98 

one has title to any specific part, or to a propor 
tion, greater than any of his fellows. Let this un- 
divided common be represented by the following 
diagram, in the shape of a square, since shape is 
imnjaterial, denoted by the letters, A, B, C, D. 
To make the application of arguments to this dia- 
gram, free of captious objections, let it be sup- 
posed to represent the whole world. 




Here, then, we have the whole world before us, 
and the supposition is that there is a race of be- 
ings present, ready to occupy it. How does it ap- 
pear, that these beings have acquired this proper- 
ty ? Is it meant that the mere act of occupying, 
or rather, of being present upon it, is an act of 



99 

mquisition'^ This, surely, cannot be- possible. 
For even this act is not their own. It ie not they 
who have placed themselves upon it. They have 
been placed there, by a Power, or by a Necessity, 
which controlled them, and the property they 
claim, with a force, which, if they were even to 
desire it, they could by no possibility resist. How 
then, is it possible, in the origin, at least, of pro- 
perty among men, to say that they acquire it by 
industry, economy and skill?' Purely, none of 
these are requisite, in order to place them in pos- 
session. The truth is, the origin of all property? 
in the sense in which I use the word, is very dif- 
ferent from this. It is a gift from the Divinityj 
if there be such a Being, who has made the world 
and the creatures who inhabit it. It is obtained 
without the act or deed, of any kind, of those who 
receive it, and is altogether extraneous and inde- 
pendent of them. Being a gift, as it undoubtedly 
is, to the whole, in their collective capacity, it be- 
longs as much, if any such there be, to those who 
are without industry, as to those who are indus- 
trious ; to those who are prodigal, as to those who 
are economical ; and to those who are destitute of 
skill, as to those who possess an extraordinary 
share of it. These distinctions, in truth, do not 
show themselves among men, in this early stage 
of their existence ; but are the result of the sub- 
sequent organization of human societyp Men, 
therefore J who resort to the use of them, ki dis~ 
<3?isslo»^ of the rights of property, guch as now 



100 

engage us, should not fail to see, that when they 
do so, they do not ascend to the origin of things, 
and are, therefore, very much in danger of not 
understanding themselves, or the subjects they 
discuss. 

In the first entrance of men, into the possession 
of the property of' the world, it is evident, that 
they acquired nothing, either by industry, econo- 
my, skill, or other quality or process, save that of 
gift from the Being who made all. It is appar- 
ent, therefore, that all pretensions to the right of 
making a will, on the ground of acquisition, fails, 
and must fail, so long as men choose to retain 
their common property in an undivided state. 
For, being undivided, what is the particular part 
Of portion, which any one may undertake to will 
away ? He has no authority to say what it shall 
be ; and the majority do not choose to name it. 
For him to say, as he is about to die, that he wills 
away his undivided portion, to a certain specified 
being, would be saying nothing ; for this latter 
w^ould also have, on his appearance on the stage 
of life, the same undivided portion, as well with- 
out this will, as with it ; unless, indeed, we make 
the inadmissible supposition that the people first 
occupying the globe, should forbid the existence 
among them of any other beings than themselves. 
But^this is not to be admitted, since, besides being 
contrary to the uniform and invariable history© 
mankmd, without a solitary exception, it is alto- 
gether incompatible with the rights of those who 



appear at periods of time subsequent to their 
own. 

It will be said, perhaps, that although the soil, 
in consequence of its remaining undivided, and 
being held in common, is not subject to be dis- 
posed of, by will, by individuals ; yet that move- 
able property is not in the same condition, but 
may be bestowed by way of legacy. But it de- 
pends, still, "upon the pleasure of the community, 
whether even these shall become personal pro- 
perty. If the majority determine, that every 
thing moveable as well as immoveable, shall be 
common, ys they have the undoubted right to do, 
even to articles of dress ; then would there be no 
subject upon which wills could be brought to act ; 
and we should see, in every instance, that the 
power of making them, is one which can have no 
existence, in the original and natural condition of 
man. Contrary, therefore, to prevailing ideas, it 
is palpable^ that the power of making a will is 
altogether unsupported by nature ; that it is the 
result of the invention of man is wholly artificial, 
and capable, when society shall deem it to be per- 
nicious to its happiness, of being totally destroyed 
§Lnd banished forever. 

So far then, as wills are vindicated, on the 
ground that thos* who acquire property, by in- 
dustry, economy, and skill, ought to be allowed 
to convey it to their children, or other legatees, 
we see that such vindication is Avithout any avail; 

since it is clear, that no such acquisition; in the 

*9 



102 

first and most natural organization of human so- 
ciety, can ever take place. 

It remains'to be seen, how far a parent, cut off, 
as we see he is, of the power of making disposal 
of property, after his death, for the benefit of suc- 
cessors, can make a similar disposal, before his 
death. This will, of course, include the case of 
providing for children, during their minority, and 
it is to this period, that I wish more particularly 
to confine my remarks. It may be objected, per- 
haps, that this does not apply to wills ; but it is 
evident, that property given to children or others, 
before the death of the giver, is only a will by an- 
ticipation ; and it is not the less so, that the re- 
ceiver may be yet in his minority. But, in the 
case before us, where even the father has nothing 
which he can call his own ; nothing which he can 
separate from what belongs to his fellows and his 
equals ; how is it to be said that he can give to 
his children ? And if he has nothing, which he 
can say, is his, of what use is it to say, that he 
may give ? To say that the power to give ex- 
ists, is, to presuppose that there is something to 
be given. And, on the other hand, if there is 
nothing to be given, it is certainly, as logical to 
conclude, that the power to give does not exist. 

Those who think they have acquired property 
in the manner already mentioned, think, of course, 
that it is, therefore, their own ; and that they have, 
asa consequence, the right to dispose of it, as they 
shall think proper. By shewing that they have 
not thus acquired it, at least under one form of so- 



103 

ciety or government, into which men may organ- 
ise themselves, I have shewn that, as individuals, 
they have no property at all ; but even if I had 
not so shown it, still the matter would be very lit- 
tle better. For, it is to be observed, such persons 
contend for the right of the power to dispose of 
what they call their property, on the ground that 
they ought to be allowed to give it to their children. 
But every one will see, on a moment's reflection, 
that if any property in question, be acknowledged 
to belong, to a parent, for example, it is his, of 
course, and his only. It does not belong to any 
one else, to a child or relative, to a friend or stran- 
ger. Such parent, therefore, inasmuch as he may 
do what he pleases, with his own, on such a theory 
of the rights of property, without any blame what- 
ever, may starve his child to death. It is into such 
barbarous absurdities, that men are driven, when- 
ever they contend for such absolute and exclusive 
ownership of property. 

But, in a state of society, in which all moveable, 
as well as immoveable property ; is hold in 
common, let us examine the principle upon which 
support is rendered to the ascending generation, 
during their period of helplessness and non-age. 
If it is to be taken as a principle that the child is 
to look to its parent, and to its parent only, for 
support, then we shall not fail to see some appal- 
ling consequences springing out of it. This prin- 
ciple, of course, supposes that the child has no right 
of his own, to a share, equal or otherwise, of the 
♦common property. If it receives any, it receives 



104 

it from the benevolence of its parent. If this be- 
iievolence fails the Hfe of the child fails with it. 
And that this is an event, very likely to happen, 
under a very possible state of the administration 
of the affairs of thi? great community of undivided 
property, it is very easy to prove. For, a majori- 
ty of the parents in such community, may happen 
to have, for example, say three children only, to 
each family : the remaining part may have from 
three to twelve. Inasmuch, therefore, as the 
heads of families only are recognized in the gov- 
ernment, it is plain, that each heaa of a family, for 
the use and support of all its members, would re- 
ceive an equal portion of the spontaneous and cul- 
tivated fruits of the earth. If now it should hap- 
j)en that a diminished production of these fruits, 
should disappoint the expectations of this commu- 
nity;, what is to become of the most numerous fam- 
ilies ? There might, perhaps, be enough to sus- 
tain, in comfort, the smaller families; and if there 
were only enough for this, those of greater num- 
ber, must either suffer or perish ! Such is the 
consequence, the direct and certain consequence, 
flowing from the principle, that a child has no 
right to look for support to any one, but a parent ! 
And yet according to the absolute right of owner- 
ship in property, to which most men lay claim, 
even this reliance of the child upon the parent, is 
not to be accorded to it, since it is incompatible, as 
I have already shown, with the existence of such 
absolute right ! 



105 

If, however, the government should distribute 
to each family, in proportion to the number of its 
members, it would be to disavow the principle that 
a child is to look to its parent for support, and to 
declare th,at its claims rested upon the community. 
And this places the reliance where it ought tobe? 
upon the rights of the being receiving sujiport, and 
not upon the benevolence, of parents or others. 
These latter are only trustees or agents, whose du- 
ty it is to give the support which the Public Au- 
thority furnishes. They hare no right to with- 
hold it, or falsely to say, that they give it. That 
these children have it in their own right, and not 
in the right of their parents, is evident, not only 
from this, that large families have more than small 
families, in proportion to their numbers ; but also 
from this, that those children who have lost their 
parents, nevertheless have as much as those whose 
parents are living. I know it is not easy to refer, 
in history, to any nation, which has actually made 
common property of both moveable and immovea- 
ble things ; but the truth of my observation is ve~ 
rifled, by all history, in the condition of those com- 
munities, which come nearest to my supposition. 

If, then, the power of making a gift or a will, 
does not belong to an individual, in a Community 
which holds all property, moveable or otherwise^ 
in common ; it will be well to enquire whether 
the same power is to be found in a community, in 
which nothing, or nearly nothing, is held in com- 
mon, and in which, of course, every thing, ot 



10^ 

nearly every thing, is held by a personal and ex- 
clusive tenure. 

Let us take again, our square, the representa- 
tive of our imaginary world, and under some mo- 
dification or other, of the original and primary 
condition of man, make it wholly private property. 
Let the families, if you please, amount to one 
hundred, constituting, for argument's sake, the 
entire population of the human race at this period. 
Let the square E, F, G, H, be equally divided 
among these families. 




_(D]@s®(i)©!i(ie(i)i);,g mmmmmmmmmmmm^ 

K vt 

I divide it equally, because I su[Spose it to be 
«;qually valuable in mil parts of its surface ; and 
because I take it for granted, that this Communi 



ty would not allow it to be divided unequally, ii 
they understood their equal rights, without giving 
to those who might have less than their equal 
and natural share, some full and undoubted equiva- 
lent for the deficiency. As it is unnecessary to 
perplex the discussion which engages us, with any 
consideration of equivalents, they are, therefoie, 
altogether, excluded, and the division is made 
equal among all. 

Now, it is perfectly competent to this Commu- 
nity, so to divide that which is the equal and com- 
mon property of all; and after having divided it, to 
apportion one small square, or section, to one family 
another to another, and soon throughout the whole^. 
But no particular family *could, withany propri- 
ety lay claim, to any particular square, as its own, 
for example, square Na. 1, or No. 100, in prefer- 
ence to any other. It is a majority of these fami^ 
lies, who are to decide, by any method that is just 
and ec[ual, what particular square or section shall 
belong^ to any particular family. 

The same authority also, has power to say, 
for how long a time, any particular square, or sec- 
tion, shall remain in the possession, and be consi- 
dered as the property, of any particular family. 
They may limit it, if they choose, to a single year, 
and then give another square or section to every 
family, instead of that which they held, the pre- 
vious year. Nor is history wholly without exam- 
ples of a practice of this sort. *' At a time, when 



106 

'* money was very scarce, the Egyptians must 
•* have been obliged to assign lands to the soldiers ; 
** and, afterwards, we may suppose, many dis- 
** putes took place, relative to the produce, which, 
*' from the diversity of soil, could not be alike on a 
** given space. To remedy this inconvenience, 
*' the legislature ordained that the military por- 
** tions should circulate continually, passing every 
" yeaVf from one soldier to another, so that the 
" person, who had at first a bad lot, received af- 
"'ter wards a better." * 

Nor is Egypt the only instance we have, m 
which the term of private property in lands was 
limited to a single year. Historians inform us t 
that, — " The state of property in Peru, was no 
*' less singular than that of religion, and contri- 
** bated likewise, towards giving a mild turn of 
*' character to the people. All the lands capable 
" of cultivation, were divided into three classes. 
^' One was consecrated to the Sun, and whatever 
** it produced, was applied towards celebrating the 
'* public rites of religion. The other belonged to 
" the Inca, and was set apart, as the 'provision 
*' made by the community for the support of go- 
'' vernment. The third and largest share, w^as re- 
" served for the maintenance of the people, among 
" whom it was parcelled out. No person, how- 



* De Pauw's Philosophical Dissertations on the Egyptians and 
Chinese. Vol. 2d. p. 276. 

tHerrera, quoted by Robertson. History of America, vol. 3d 
paye 166. 



109 

'* ever, had a right of exclusive property, [exclu- 
** sive, forever, is here meant,] in the portion allot- 
" ted to him. He possessed it only for a year, at 
*' the expiration of which, a new division was 
** made, in proportion to the rank, the number, and 
'' exigencies of each family. A-'l those lands were 
^' cultivated by the joint isiiiustry of the communis 
'* ty. The people, summoned by a proper officer, 
*' repaired in a body, to the fields, and performed 
*' their common task, while i^ongs and musical in- 
" struments cheered thvm to their labor." 

In any such divisiaij, among the hundred fami- 
lies, as I have represented, in the diagram, E. F. 
G. H., it is plain that they, or rather a majority of 
them, would have the right to fix the time during 
which any and every particular family, should oc- 
cupy any particulai portion in question. It is evi- 
dent here, that the whole have not acquired this 
aggregate property ; inasmuch as it is supposed 
to be the same as that represented by the pre- 
vious diagram, A. B.C. D. p. 9H. It is evident also, 
that no one of these famjiies, has acquired any par- 
ticular section of the diagram, E. F. G. H., by any 
industry, economy, or skill. As in the former 
case, the property claimed to be owned, or to have 
been acquired, as well as the person claiming, are 
where they are, and what they are, not by any act 
of their own, but by a Power or an Agency, supe- 
rior to both. All that can be said, is, that, one 
family has section No. 1, another No. 2, another 
No. 3, and so on, through all the sections, by com~ 

10 



110 

mon consent ; or, in other words, by agreement 
among themselves. Otherwise, there could be 
no exclusive possession, by any one, of any par- 
ticular section. All would be common. 

If, then, the time of possession, be limited to a 
single year, at the expuation of that time, every 
occupant of a section, ceases to have any title to 
exclusive possession. It is no longer, what he has 
called ^15. If, again, it were limited to ten years ; 
this also is a period of time which the generation 
then in being have a right to fix upon, provided it 
does not exceed the period of their lives ; and the 
right, to the exclusive possession of any particular 
section, by any particular family, ceases, the mo- 
ment, the ten years have gone by. Once more, it 
is competent for the majority to say, that each 
particular family may retain its designated sec- 
tion during life. And if it were a possible thing 
that each and every family should die on the same 
day, then the authority of this whole generation of 
occupants of the globe, would cease, when they 
ceased to exist. 

How absurd, now, would it not be, where the sec- 
tions are allowed to be held for one year only; for 
the occupant of any particular section, to claim to 
himself the right of nominating his successor; of 
saying who should occupy next after him, the sec 
tion which he exclusively owned only by consent 
of the majority of his fellow-beings ? How absurd 
would it not be, in any one, to hold forth similar 
pretensions in the case, where possess'.onjis limited 



Ill 

to ten years? But, certainly, not more ^o than 
he, or they, who should endeavour to exterM their 
own authority beyond the period of their own ex- 
istence. All these acts, if they were perpetrated, 
would be flagrant invasions of right. The two 
first would infringe upon the sovereignty and rights 
of the majority of the community; since it is for 
this body to determine who are to occupy the sec- 
tions, ail vacated as they are, at the expiration of 
the limitations mentioned: and the last would in- 
fringe upon the rights of the succeeding genera- 
tion, who have a right to say /or themselves, how 
this property, which a former generation have lived 
upon, shall be apportioned among them, without 
being interfered with by any. 

It is to be said, when property is held for the 
term of a year, that, with regard to one another^ the 
holders, during that time, are absolute and imcon- 
ditional owners. It is also to be said, that the same 
thing is true, with regard to the period of ten years ; 
and so also is the remark applicable to any term 
Vv^hatever, so that it does not extend beyond the 
life-time of the generation. If it does, then it in- 
terferes witl^the rights of the generation that suc- 
ceeds. With regard to the individuals of any ge- 
neration, their rights cannot go beyond the limits 
fixed by a majority of such generation: within 
those limits the rights of individuals will be abso-= 
lute and uncontrollable. With regard to a whole 
generation, it cannot confer rights on any one, or 
^Bore, of the individuals of which it is composed^ 



112 

extending to an encroachment on the rights of an- 
othcj^ generation ; for this is a power, a moral 
power I mean, which it does not possess; and, 
therefore, what it does not possess, it cannot 
give. 

Every one sees the absurdity, where land h 
held for a year, or for ten years, in equal portions, 
as the sections in my diagram indicate, of any for- 
mer occupant attempting to dictate who shall be 
the successor to the section he has formerly occu- 
pied ; because it is seen to be a palpable invasion 
and assumption of the public authority; but, al- 
though not less enormous, the injustice of one ge- 
neration, or part of a generation, infringing the 
rights of a succeeding generation, is not so visible ; 
and merely because, as I take it, the line which 
separates one generation from another, is not so dis- 
tinctly seen. 

But, let us confine ourselves, as 1 have chiefly 
intended to do, to a single generation only, and 
let us see, if we cannot make plain, as the sun at 
noon-day, if it be not so already, the absurdity of 
this power of making a will. Let this community 
of one hundred families, be supposed to have di- 
vided the world among them, in manner the same 
as shown in our diagram, p. 106. Let us, also, sup- 
pose just as is the fact now, that they may die at 
different times; and that contrary to what happens 
now, there are to be no successors. If this little 
community allowed wills to be made, the conse- 
quence might be, that successively, as A, B, G 



113 

D, E, &c. &c. should die, allowing them to die 
first, they would or might, by will, give all their 
sections, or in other words their property, for ex- 
ample, to O, while from O, downwards, they 
would remain with only the quantity of property 
originally given them. As between O, and the 
latter members of the alphabet, during the latter 
portion of the life time of this generation, there 
would be a vast inequality ; and such an inequali- 
ty, that, having determined in the first partition 
of the common soil, to make it equal, they would 
never have permitted the existence of wills, if they 
could have foreseen the effects they would pro- 
duce. 

For, it is manifestly absurd to suppose that any 
community, in the first division of the common 
property of all, would make equal allotments to 
all, and afterwards allow another principle to 
come in, which would destroy this equality. Na- 
tions, any more than individuals, cannot, know- 
ingly adopt contradictory principles. They can- 
not be in favor of equality and inequality, at one 
and the same time. Yet this is the absurdity, to 
which the practice of making wills would lead, 
if ,they were allowed to exist in a community 
which should have no successors. The truth is, 
if such a community had ever existed, or could 
ever exist, they would be obliged to adopt the 
principle, that whenever any one or more of the 
occupants of the sections in question should die, 
that the sections themselves, on which the occupants 

10* 



114 

liad spent their lives, and from which they had 
drawn the means of their subsistetice and happi- 
ness, should revert to their survivors, and by a 
majority of them, be disposed of, as to them should 
seem good, without any regard, whatever to the 
wishes or desires of those who had ceased to ex- 
ist ; and this majority, would not fail to appropri- 
ate to its individuals equally, the abandoned sec- 
tions, and all the improvements that had been 
made upon them. 

We have seen, then, whether govf rnments be 
organized so as to hold all proper tv undivided and 
common, or to possess it, equally, and separately, 
that there is no such thing as any one's having 
acquired property at all, by any thing like his own 
act or deed, and that of course, he has no right to 
convey it away, and having pretended to convey it 
away, it is a false preteoce altogether. It is true, 
however, that if I own, by the consent of the ma- 
jority of my fellow-beings, for example, section 
No. If for one year only, I may convey to another 
such section, but only for such period of time. So, 
also, if I own, by the same authority, the same or 
any other section, I may convey it likewise to ano- 
ther, for ten years, and no longer, if that be the 
period for which I am allowed to hold it. And 
once more, it is lo be said, that if the majority of 
the community, of which I am a member, shall 
have consented that I shall be the exclusive owner 
of any particular section, during life, that I may 
dispose of such section, for such period and no 



115 

longer. The reason why I have no right to dis 
pose of such sections, for periods of time longer 
than the community shall have designated, is, 
that it is not the individual, but the majority who' 
confers the right; for unless they did so confer it, the 
right to the exclusive occupation of any particular 
portion of the common property could not exist at 
all. And the reason why the community itself, 
viewed as a single and separate generation, have 
no right to give title, to any one, or more of its 
members to hold property longer than they shall 
live, or to give title to others to hold in virtue of 
such supposed right, is, that they, themselves, do 
not possess the power to do so. For, as individ- 
uals are equal, one with another, so are genera- 
tions ; and to allow a past generation to extend the 
operation of its laws or its wishes into the pre- 
sent generation, contrary to their consent, is to 
allow a principle which destroys the existence of 
equality between one generation and another ; in- 
asmuch as a generation which now is, cannot be 
interfered with, by a generation which is to come, 
but may interfere with it, unless, indeed, the latter 
shall prepare to resent and resist it. 

It is evidently absurd, therefore, to pre- 
tend that acquisition of proper tij fiom one another, 
after an equal division has been made, can give 
rights to those acquiring, to dispose of it, for pe- 
riods of time longer than those who first held it, 
had the right to convey. Thus, if I should pre- 
tend to convey to another, the right to my particu* 



116 , 

far section, for example, for more than a year 
when I had it from the community for a year only, 
I should be an imposter, and the person to whom 
I should pretend to convey, could not be allowed 
to profit by the imposition. The same would be 
true, as it regards a period of possession, extend- 
ing to ten years ; or to a life'time. That system 
which would allow wills to exist, where property 
is held during life, would allow them, also, to exist, 
where property is held for one year, or ten years : 
and this would be to sanction a principle no less 
unjust, and enormous than that the grantee should 
possess more than the grantor had power to give 
him : no less than to say, that the lessee should 
hold over the time agreed to, by the lessor, to the 
injury of another lessee. 

It is apparent then, from the complexion of this 
discussion, that the whole world, isas it were, a 
great estate of which the Supreme Being, or Ne- 
cessitj', as the different understandings of men, 
may incline them to designate, is the owner in fee- 
simple ; and of which, each generation, in its turn 
successively, is the lessee ; the individuals of each 
generation, having equal rights, one with another, 
and the generations also, being equal one with 
another, without interference in any respect what- 
ever. 

If this be a correct aspect, in which to view the 
matter, the truth is estr.blished, that the materials 
of the world are, equally, as it regards the indi- 
viduals of any particular generation, and as it re 



117 

gards entire generations, one with another, 'the 
common property of mankind. The notion pre- 
vails to a considerable extent among men who 
have not reflected much, although the materials of 
the world belong to others, in all ages, equally 
with themselves, that still they have the right to 
transfer to others the result of their labors which 
remain to them, over and above their own subsis- 
tence. But they should recollect, that these la- 
bors, which they are so desirous to convey, through 
the instrumentality of wills, to others, are not a 
distinct and separate property. They are only to 
be found united with, and inseparable from, ma- 
terials which are not their own, but which belong 
to'the great mass of the present and all future ge- 
nerations. How, then, is it to be said, that I may 
give my labor, or the result of my labor, to others, 
when I cannot do so, without giving away also, 
that which is not my own f If we were to allow 
the principle, that because a man came into pos- 
session, even by rightful means, of the materials 
of the world, or a portion of them, and employed 
upon them his industry, judiciously or otherwise, 
that, thereforei the materials as well as the 
labor so employed upon them, were of right his 
property; and as such, that he had a right to dis- 
pose of them, as to him should seem good ; it 
would go the full length of annihilating, in ioto^ 
the rights of every subsequent generation. For, I 
have only to inclose perhaps, or fertilize a field 
which a majority or my cotemporary fellow-beings 



118 

shall have given me, in order to make it mine, ah 
solutely mine, and to deny possession of it, if I 
shall say so, to every human being coming after 
me, forever. Under this pretext of ownership in 
property, we could set forests on fire, and consume 
them, so that future generations should reap no 
benefit from th( m. A coal-mine, where circum- 
stances admitted of it, might be burnt up in a sim- 
ilar manner. Clay, since it is a material whicli 
after having been submitted to the action of fire, 
is incapable of being made the same substance 
again, might, at least, by way of argument, in one 
age, and from mere wantonness of power, too, be 
appropriated to uses incompatible with the wel- 
fare of succeeding ages. Yet surely, it cannot be 
pretended that a theory of rights, which leads to 
such baneful results, can be a just and true theory. 
It is to be said, indeed, in some instances, that in- 
dustry is exercised, without being employed upon 
the materials of the world. The physician, for 
example, maygiv^ me a verbal prescription, which 
may restore me to health. In return for this pre- 
scription, I may render him some personal service, 
such as that of carrying a message for him, to 
some distant place. But in this instance, neither 
of us has any thing to transmit, or to wish to trans- 
mit, to posterity. The prescription has cured 
me of my disease, and nothing remams to me, fur- 
ther than that I am in good health. Tlie message 
has been carried for him, as he desired!, and, so 
far as the message is concernedj that is all thai 



119 

remains to Jtim, If, in return for the prescriptiou, 
I paid him in some of the materials of the world, 
which I had in my possession, I could only trans- 
fer to him, such right or dominion to them, as I 
myself might possess. If I had only, a one year's 
use of them, this would be all that he could justly 
receive of me : if it were a ten year's use, that be^ 
longed to me, then a ten year's enjoyment is all I 
could give him. If I had a life-lease in what I 
gave him, he also would have the same life-lease, 
and no more. 

The principle which the first of all governments 
in any country, and, indeed, every succeeding go- 
vernment, should adopt and practise, is this. In 
dividing that which is the equal and common pro- 
perty of ail, the apportionments should be equal ; 
and if it is concluded, as it will be, where men un- 
derstand how best to pursue their own happiness, 
that a life-lease of property is better than any 
other, that will be the term preferred to eyery 
other. Then will every one understand that he 
has full liberty to use the materials of which, du- 
ring his life-time, he is the master, in such a man- 
ner as, in his judgment, shall promote his own 
happiness. He will understand, too, that if the 
use which he shall make of them, shall be such as 
to meet,; the approbation of those who come 
after him, they will be disposed to follow his exam- 
ple ; but if not, that still the successor has a rio-ht 
to make such other use of the same, as to him 
shall seem good, with the knowledge that every 



120 

other person corning after him, too, will be equal* 
ly free. Society, thus organized, gives notice to 
all its members, that they are to use their own in- 
dustry, with a view to their own happiness ; and 
cannot be allowed, on any pretence whatever, 
whether of kindness or otherwise, to interfere with^ 
others in the same pursuit. Under these circum- 
stances, then, no one would seek to acquire proper- 
ty for the purpose of making it an instrument (to 
be placed in the hands of children,) of domination 
over the children of other parents; and every one 
would be willing that all, in whatever age or ge- 
neration they might appear, should have equal 
possession of the materials of the world, and, of 
course, of the means of assuring their own happi- 
ness. 

If any thing can add force to these observations, 
it is, that as regards the prevailing ideas, as to who 
are and who are not successors to property, they 
are altogether founded in error. In a community 
where the soil, the equal and common property o 
all, should be divided equally, and the equal por- 
tions held by each member, for one year only^ what 
member could say he had a successor ? Is there 
any one on whom he could confer the right of oc- 
cupying that which, by the death of his own tenure, 
he is compelled to vacate and abandon f Where 
the tenure extended to the term o^ ten years, who 
then would have a successor ? If, indeed, there 
be any at all, the community itself is the succes- 
sor ; and there is no other. So also is the com- 



121 

munity the successor, and the sole successor, iu 
the case where the government is so organized, 
that every member of it holds, property during his 
life. At his death, it returns to the community, 
and these, in duty to every member of w^hich it is 
composed, yield to them, at the suitable age, their 
share of the common property, and secure to them 
its enjoyment during their lives. There is, there- 
fore, no such thing, then, as successor, in the 
meaning in which the word is received among men 
at the present day. It is only a misunderstand- 
ing of our rights that could have tolerated its use 
or existence among us. 

I have spoken, by way of illustration, of men 
holding their nght to property, on the same princi- 
ple as that Oi a life-lease. In the further progress 
of this work, it will be seen, that I do not intend 
to recommend any restriction on the sale of prop- 
erty in perpetuity; and yet the system which I 
thus place before the world, will rigidly maintain 
the principle, that no man or generation of men, 
have property, or the disposition of property, 
either as to, who shall own, or shall not own it, or 
as to the use that shall be made of it, one moment 
after they cease to exist. It is by the aid of mon- 
ey, that this is to be accomplished. Thus although 
I may have given to me, by the community of 
which I am a member, for example, Section No. 
46, in our diagram, I may dispose of it to whom 
I will for a fair consideration, (and for none other) ; 
and if at the time of my death, I retain the valii& 

11 



122 

of it, in whatever it may consist, this value is to 
be surrendered up to the community from whom I 
received the section, and from the sale of which 
I obtained it. If it be money, this money is to be 
given up ; and this, it is to be presumed, is of such 
an amount, as to be able to repurchase the section 
in question ; (or another as good), and is, in fact, 
in the nature of a mortgage upon it, the right of 
which IS thus handed over to the community, from 
whom the designation and appropriation to a par- 
ticular person emandied. It is as if I had given 
my property away, but some one, no matter who, 
had given me money enough to repurchase it. 
But the utility, and force of this explanation, will 
be better understood as we advance. 

In whatever aspect, therefore, we contemplate 
the operation of wills, either of individuals or of 
entire communities, in the disposition, as well of 
that kind of property which is personal and exclu- 
sive, as of that which is indivisible and common, 
we are met by incongruities, absurdities, impolicy 
and injustice, to such an extent, that it is much 
to be wondered at, — that they should ever have 
been tolerated among men. 

In the case of the nation I am now considering, 
I have thought proper to contemplate them prin- 
cipally as commencing the occupation of the soil 
allotted to them, at the same time, and as termina- 
ting their existence at the same moment. This, 
I know, is not the ordinary phenomenon of actual 
life. But principles apply, as well in this way, as 



123 

ill any other. Besides, I have the advantage, of 
presenting to the reader's comprehension, one 
generation of men, occupying the earth, or a por- 
tion of it, for a distinct and definite period of time, 
and then, ^7^ a body, giving way for a new genera- 
tion. In this way, I make it more plahily appa- 
rent, than I otherwise could, that one generation 
should not interfere with another, and, in this in- 
stance, for this additional reason, because it need 
7iot, As to the rights of each individual, in ^»ach 
generation, as it regards those of another of the 
next, they are shown in the previous case — where 
the world was supposed to be owned wholly by 
one man ; there being, however, this differeoee, 
that tht^y do not cover and claim so great a quan- 
tity of property. There is no other distinction 
between them. Their rights, their relations are, 
every way, the same. 

Nor, will these rights, either as regards genera- 
tions, or individuals, suffer any change, if we make 
the supposition different. Thus, if half of a 
given population were to die midway of the com- 
mon period of their lives, and instantly an equal 
number were to be ready to take their place; they 
would have the right so to take it, and use the 
property placed into their possession, as their pre* 
decessors had done, for their own good, in con- 
junction with the survivors of the deceased. And 
in so occcupying property to which they had suc- 
ceeded, they would have the right to consider, that 
they do ity in their own original right — and owe 



124 

nothing therefor,, either to those who havt heert,, 
to those who are, or to those who may he. 

We may go yet farther, and suppose any and 
every nation, at its first settlement, to have a pop- 
ulation as great as ever it can support, and as ever 
will be desirous to draw support from its soil and 
other resources. If now, a given, and, as near as 
may be, an equal portion of its population, be ima- 
gined to die off, every day ; and if it be further 
imagined also, that a portion of new irniividualst 
so to call them, arrived at maturity, should ap- 
pear, equal in number to the deceased, and take 
their places ; this substitution cf a new population, 
thus daily, supplying the waste of human beings^ 
produced by death ; would make the nation per- 
petual. And in the operation of this daily sub- 
stitution, the same principles would bear sway^ 
that I have endeavored to inculcate throughout this 
work; that of the equal rights of man to the pro- 
perty of the great domain of nature. It is not 
here the place, to say, how beneficially such princi- 
ples would act in promoting human happiness, 
should it be found that this substitution can easily 
and happily be accomplished. It is enough now, to 
observe, that they are our rights ; that they belong 
to every human being ; that they are not to be con- 
travened, withheld or denied, among a people who 
understand them, without incurring a terrible re- 
sponsibility ; and that there is every reason to be- 
lieve that a method will be devised, before thc^ 



125 

conclusion of this work, which shall assure to every 
individual, all that his rights and his happiness 
require^ 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Proposition. 

If I have seemed, to the reader, to understand 
myself ; if I have taken the world as it is ; and 
placed man, as it regards his rights to dominion 
over it, where he ought to be ; it must hf conce- 
ded that I have done much ; but it is also to be 
conceded, that much nrore remains to be done, to 
put the rightful owners in possession. Whoever 
looks at the world as it now is, will see it divided 
into two distinct classes; proprietors, and non-pro- 
prietors J those who own the world, and those who 
own no part of it. If we take a closer view of 
thesiB two classes, we shall find that a very great 
proportion even of the proprietors, are only nomi- 
nally so ; they possess so little, that in strict re- 
gard to truth, they ought to be classed among the 
non-proprietors. They may be compared, in fact, 
to the small prizes in a lottery, which, when they 
are paid, leave the holder a loser. 

If such a phenomenon in the history of man, for 

such is the situation in which we find him in all 

countries and in all ages, could have possibly found 

an existence, under a system that should have 

11* 



126 

given each individual as he arrived at the age of 
maturity, as much of the property of the world, as 
any cotemporary of his, was allowed to possess at 
a similar age ; I say, if under such a system, such 
an unhappy result should have arisen, as we now 
see, aflicting the human race ; there would be 
nothing to hope. We might despair of seeing 
things better than they now are, and set ourselves 
down in quiet content, that there was no remedy. 
But when we see that the system which has pre- 
vailed hitherto, and prevails to this moment, is not 
of this description ; that it acts on principles in 
direct opposition to it ; that it gives to some single 
descendant of some holder of property under Wil- 
liam Penn, possessions of the value perhaps of a 
million of dollars ; while, it may be, an hundred 
thousand other inhabitants of Pennsylvania, col- 
lectively, have not half that sum; and all this, mare-- 
ly because of a few beads having been given to some 
Indians, some two hundred years ago ; how is it pos- 
sible to have had a different result ? The system 
is one, that begins, by making whole nations 
paupers; and why should it not be expected that 
they would continue so ? Indeed it would be a 
miracle, exceeding every thing of the kind that 
has ever been supposed to have happened, if we 
had seen, from such an organization of things, 
any thing but what we now see. 

The truth is, all governments in the world, have 
begun wrong ; in the first appropriation they have 
made, or suffered to be made, of the domain. 



127 

over which they have exercised their power, and 
in the transmission of this domain to their posterity. 
Here are the two great and radical evils, that 
have caused all the misfortunes of man. These 
and these alone, have done the whole of it. I do 
not class among these misfortunes, the sufferings 
with which sickness afflicts him, because these 
have a natural origin; capable, however, of being 
nearly annihilated by good governments, but 
greatly aggravated by those that are bad. 

If these remarks be true, there would seem, then, 
to be no remedy but by commencing anew. And 
is there any reason why we should notf That which 
is commenced in error and injustice, may surely be 
set right, when we know how to do it. There is 
power enough in the hands of the people of the 
State of New- York, or of any other State, to recti- 
fy any and every thing which requires it, wheiv 
they shall see wherein the evil exists, and where- 
in lies the remedy. These two things it is neces- 
sary they should see, before they can possess the 
moral power and motive to act. I have -succeed- 
ed, I think, in shewing, for that is self-evident, 
that man's natural right to an equal portion of 
property, is indisputable. His artificial right, or 
right in society, is not less so. For it is not to be 
said that any power has any right to make our ar- 
tificial rights unequal, anymore than it has to make 
our natural rights unequal. And inasmuch as a 
man, in a state of nature, would have a right to re- 
sist, even to the extremity of death, his fellow, or 



. 128 

his fellows, whatever might be their number, who 
should undertake to give him less of the property, 
common to all, than they take each to themselves ; 
so also has man now, in society, the same right to 
resist a similar wrong done him. Thus, to day, 
if property had been made equal among all pre- 
sent, right would have taken place among them ; 
but if to-morrow a new member appear, and pro- 
vision be not made to give him a quantity substan- 
ly equal with all his fellows, injustice is done him, 
and if he had the power, he would have the perfect 
right, to dispossess all those who have monopolized 
to themselves not only their own shares, but his 
also. For it is not to be allowed, even to a majo- 
rity, to contravene equality, nor, of course, the 
right, even though it be of a single individual. 
And if, alone, he has not power sufficient to obtain 
his rights, and there be others, also, in like condi- 
tion with him, they may unite their eftbrts, and 
thus accomplish it, if within their power. And, if 
this may be lawfully done, upon the supposition that 
yesterday, only, a government was made, and an 
equal enjoyment of property guaranteed to all, 
how much more proper is it when, unjust govern- 
ment existing, it has never been done at all 
When the whole mass of people, as it were, nine- 
ty-nine out of every hundred, have never had this 
equal enjoyment, in any manner or shape, what- 
ever? If still there be those who shall say that 
these unjust and unequal governments ought not 
to be destroyed, although they may not give to 



129 

man, in society, the same equality of property as 
he would enjoy in a state of nature ; then I say, 
that those are the persons who, in society, if any 
body, should be deprived of all their possessions^ 
inasmuch as it is manifestly as proper for them to 
be destitute of property, as it is for any one else* 
If slavery and degradation are to be the result, they 
are the proper victims. After an equal division 
has been once made, there seems nothing wanting 
but to secure an equal transmission of property to 
posterity. And to this, there is no irremoveable 
objection. For, I think I have succeeded in shew- 
ing, that the right of a testator to give, and of an 
heir to receive, is a mere creature of the imagina- 
tion ; and that these rights, as they are called, 
ought to be abolished, as interfering with the real 
rights of the succeeding generation. Had It not 
been for these, we should not have seen a Van 
Ransellaer possessing that which would make 
hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of families as 
happy as they could wish to be, and to which they 
have as good a natural right, and ought to have as 
good an artificial title as himself. It would be of 
no consequence for him to say that he derived his 
right from some old Dutch charter, obtained some 
twenty years aftef Hudson's first discovery of the 
river which now bears his name. The rights of 
nature, which can never be alienated; which can 
never pass out of our hands but through ignorance 
pr force; and which may be claimed again when- 
ever ignorance and force disappear; are superior 



130 

to any and to all chartered rights, as they are call- 
ed, let them be of what government they may, even 
of our own government ; and much more so, to 
those of any that is or was foreign. 

I venture to say, that the ancestors of this gen- 
tleman, and those who were associated with him, 
would never have had leave to claim as their own, 
or at any rate, to hold as their own, that which 
was chartered to them by the foreign government 
in question, or by any other foreign government 
that succeeded them, if they had 2i^\ie^ permission 
of all theit fellow beings, who were present with 
them at the time, when they came to occupy it. 
And yet there is no truth more indisputable than 
this; that the soil of any and every country, htloigs 
wholly and equally to all who are found upon it ; 
more especially so, if a majority of the people of 
of other nations do not object to it. It will 
serve little purpose to say that the Indians were, 
of right, the owners of the soil, exclusively, 
and that any transfer they should make to him 
wh<r«hould negotiate with them, what is called a 
purchase is valid. The Indians themselves, (se- 
parate from the consent of other nations,) do not, 
and did not, own this whole country, unless it can 
be shown, that being divided equally among them, 
there was no more than their just and equal share, 
of the whole property of the globe. How this is, 
every one knows. Yet, still, if it be contended, 
that the Indians were nevertheless, the true own- 
ers of the soil J it must certainly, be, for some 



131 

good reason. Let us inquire, (nor let it be said, 
that on so important and interesting a subject as 
this, we can enquire too much) what that good rea- 
son may be. Is it because of their nativity ? Is 
it in virtue of their being born upon it ? This is a 
reason, which, if it is to have any force at all, 
can have it only when it is applicable to an indi- 
vidual. For nations, cannot be born. The indi- 
viduals of whom a nation is composed, may be, 
and are. But nations do not exist, until individu- 
als have been born, and until such individuals, for 
any purpose, no matter what, unite, or agree to 
unite, in accomplishing a common object. It is, then, 
and not till then, that nations begin. And » they 
would die, too, in self-dissolution, if they could 
prevail upon themselves, to consent to annihilate 
every vestige of ctrnpnct subsisting between the 
individual members. But it is the nation only, in 
such an event, that would die. The individuals 
would still exist, notwithstanding. Besides, if 
place of birth, gives right to soil, let us enquire 
into the extent of it. The question occurs, how 
much ? Is it one hundred square feet ? Is it an 
acre ? Is it a square mile ? Is it in the shape of 
a circle, of which perhaps the mother, who is in 
labor with her ofFsprmg, is the centre ? Is it a 
square ? Is it a parallelogram ? Is it a triangle r 
And if the event in question, happened in a canoe, 
in the middle of Lake Erie, or Ontario, of what 
use would this kind of birth-right be, to the new 
being ? Moreover, as history informs us, children 



132 

were born here too, of Europeans, and that I be- 
lieve without the Indians feehng that there was 
any necessity to ask their permission. The In- 
dians themselves, never dreamed, that the coun- 
try was so exclusively theirs, when the first disco- 
verers came among them, that beings so much 
like themselves, might not partake of nature's 
bounties in the same equal manner with them- 
selves ; and only a mistaken avarice and supersti- 
tion made them enemies. If then children were 
born of European parents here, had they also not 
title ? If these questions are not answered to the 
satisfaction of those to whom they are addressed, 
whose fault is it? Is it not correct, for those who 
claim title, to show evidence of title, when it is dis- 
puted ? Is there any exemption ? May one be 
called upon to show his right, and another not? 
Why then, is not title shown ? If it be conceded, 
as I think it must be, that ylace of birth, cannot 
give title to the Indians, to the exclusive posses- 
sion of this whole country, what other iit\e is there .^ 
Do they hold it by deed from the Great Spirit r 
Where is the parchment that contains it? Where 
is the table of wax ? Where is the record in 
marble ? Is title engraved on the surface of the 
earth ? Is it written on the face of the sun ? In 
what other material, if there be any such, is his 
pleasure made known ? Surely, if the right exist 
at all, there must be some means of ascertaining it, 
some memorial of its existence. If it is not so ; 
it is unfortunate enough ; for, even in law of the 



133 

present day» that which cannot be shown to exist, 
does not exist at all. Denon apparentihus, et non 
cxistentibus, eadem est ratio. How much better 
would it not be, to have said at once, *' man has 
" his equal right to the property of the globe, (not 
^' of any particular country) bexause he is bo7'n, ra- 
** ther than because of any circumstance attending 
*^ his birth, such as the places the parties present^ 
'* at his entrance into Wfe, particular parents, ra~ 
^' ther than other parents, or any other ridiculous 
*' reason whatever." 

But admiriHig, notwithstanding all that has here 
been urged ; o the contrary, that the Indians had 
the right to sell, to whom it is said they did sell ; 
yet, they cotild only sell as much as belonged to 
them ; they could sell no more. It has been 
shown, thai the race of Indians then living, had 
no right to sell, or convey away, that which be- 
longed to those of their kindred, as a nation, who 
should come after them. For it evidently belonged 
as much to these latter as to the former. Havino-, 
then, no such power to convey, they did not con- 
vey ; although they might have said they did con- 
vey ; yet it is a false declaration, such as is every 
day embodied into deeds, but nevertheless as false 
as it is common. And inasmuch as they did not 
convey ; the pretended purchasers did not; and 
could not purchase ; and of course, could not have 
owned ; and not owning, could have nothing to 
devise by way of will, to any successor, even if it 
were not manifestly as impossible for them to will 

12 



134 

away aught, wliich they might realjy and truly 
own, as it is for all other men. 

Instead, therefore, of this gentleman, or any 
other person in similar circumstances, having any 
right to complain of any dispossession of vast 
estates, thus coming to him, h}' what is called de- 
scent, one would naturally think, that he ought to 
congratulate himself that he has enjoyed the 
sweets they have afforded him, so long; and that 
gratitude to, as well as a proper consideration for 
the rights of, each individual, around him, should 
make him acquiesce, in the decree of this commni- 
ty, if they should think proper so to order, to sur- 
render it up, preparatory to its being divided 
equally among the whole, himself, of course, be- 
ing one of t lie number. 

So, also, if there be any individual, who has had 
any connection with the gentleman, wbose name I 
have taken the liberty of using, in the way of the 
common transactions of business ; and who has 
thereby, been able to appropriate to himself more 
than his natural and equal share of the property 
of the globe ; such person, if he docs justice to the 
forbearance of the community, is also under the 
necessity, of feeling the same sentiment of grati- 
tude, that they have permitted him to enjoy, so 
lonsr, a greater proportion of the blessings of the 
earth, than they have themselves tested ; and he 
ought equally also, to be prepared to acquiesce, in 
the same decree, which shall forbid him to not in 
these superior enjoyments any longer. 



135 

it is of no avail, in the struggles of conscious 
self-interest, for such an one to attempt to persuade 
himself, that he would have a right to disobey such 
a mandate of the community. In justification of 
himself, if he should say, " I was more industrious 
** than others, more temperate, more frugal, more 
*' ingenious, more skilful, had greater bodily 
" strength which I did not fail to exercise, and 
" therefore, for all the^e reasons, I ought to be 
- ' allowed to retain what I have;" could we not say, 
it is not true ? Aisd ad nutting it to be true, that 
he was equalh &.S industrious &c. &c., as many 
thousands of his fellow-citizens, would it not be the 
most fatal argument that could be urged against 
him ? For if all these qualities, are to be con- 
sidered as giving him a title to his property^ as he 
calls it, why should it not give a title also to themj 
to an equal possession with him? A.nd yet they 
have labored all their lives, possessed all the 
qualities, that he lays claim to, and yet, have no- 
thing ! Such is, at least, the case with the great 
mass of mankind. And all the rich, we certainly 
know, cannot pretend to be proportionally more 
virtuous than they. The mere accidental circum- 
stance, of having acquaintance with him from whom 
he has drawn his wealth, of having his confidence ; 
of knowing how to take advantage of the situation 
of all the particulars in any way concerned in the 
operation of extracting such wealth from its for- 
mer proprietor: is not of sueh importance as to give 
a right paramount over all other men, even if we 



13^ 

were to admit such former proprietor to be a jusf 
and genuine owner. But such he evidently is not ; 
and as such ; wealth derived from him, whoever 
may have it, must be delivered up to the commu- 
nity who are the rightful owners. A poisoned 
fountain cannot send forth sweet waters ; nor he 
who holds a vicious title, give a virtuous one to 
another.' 

But, in some respects, the reasoning in which I 
have allowed myself to indulge, in the course df 
the present chapter, is of a kind calculated to com- 
pel me to blend two things together, which ought 
to be kept separate ; that is the injustice and 
enormity of unequal first-possession, and the ef- 
fects growing out of it. The reader will know 
what I call first-possession ; it is, that which the 
governments of every country order to be given 
to him who is so fortunate as to have what is 
called a legator, whatever he shall have request- 
ed, out of any thing which he possessed at the 
termination of his life. The effects^ of which I 
spoke, as growing out of it, are, the additions 
made to it, by acquisition, thro' the operation of 
that state of things, where a few have all, and the 
many nothing. 1 use the word legator ; but the 
word donor is equally applicable ; since the latter 
gives the property, it may be, a few years sooner ; 
the difference being only in time. It will be bet- 
ter, therefore, to defer combatting any further ob- 
jections, which will naturally arise, to that which 
is yet to be proposed, until a full view can be had 
by all, of the features it will exhibit. 



1^7 

So much has been said as to what really is not, 
and should not be, that the reader is, no doubt, 
prepared to anticipate, in part, what should be ; to 
foresee the modification, which it is necessary our 
State Government should undergo, before the 
rights of property, which belong to man in his 
natural state, can be secured to him, in the arti- 
ficial state in which society finds him ; and before 
the rights of posterity can be preserved to them, 
as they should have been to us, for their own ex- 
clusive use and benefit. 

. This modification will be accomplished by pur- 
siun^ the followincf 

PLAN. 

1. Let a new State-Convention be assembled. 
Let it prepare a new Constitution, and let that 
Constitution, after having been adopted bj? the 
people, decree an abolition of all debts ; both at 
home and abroad, between citizen and citizen; 
and between citizen and foreigner. Let it re- 
nounce all property belonging to our citizens, 
without the State. Let it claim all property with- 
in the State, both real and personal, of whatever 
kind it may be, with the exception of that belong- 
ing to resident aliens, and with the further excep- 
tion of so much personal property, as may be in 
the possession of transient owners, not being citi- 
zens. Let it order an equal division of all this 
property among the citizens, of and over the age 

12* 



138 

of maturity, in manner yet to be directed. Let. it 
order all transfers or removals of property, ex- 
cept so much as may belong to transient owners, 
to cease, until the division is accomplished. 

2. Let a census be taken, of the people; ascer- 
taining and recording in books made for the pur- 
pose, the namcj time when born, as near as may be, 
and annexing the age, the place of nativity, parent- 
age, seXf color, occupation, domicil or residence and 
time of residence since Zas^ -resident in the State, 
distinguishing aliens from citizens, and ordering, 
with the exception of the Agents of Foreign 
Governments, — such as Ambassadors, &c. that all 
such aliens shall be considered as citizens, if tiiey 
have been resident for the five years next previ- 
ous to the time when the before mentioned divi- 
sion of property, shall have been ordered. 

3. Let each citizen, association, corporation, 
and other persons at the same time when the cen- 
sus is being taken, give an inventory of all per- 
gonal property, of whatever description it may be, 
and to whomsoever it may belong, in his, her, or 
their possession. Let also a similar inventory oi' 
all real property, within the State, be taken, who- 
ever may be the owner of it. And from these 
data, let a General Inventory, be made out of all 
the real and personal property, within the State, 
which does not belong to alien residents, or tran- 
sient owners. To this, let there be added all prop- 
erty in the possession of our tribunals of law and 
equity ; and such State property, as can4)e offered 
up to sale without detriment to the State. 



139 

4. Let there be, next, a dividend made of tbb 
amount, among all such citizens, who shall be of 
and over, the age of eighteen, if this should be fixed, 
as I am inclined to think it should be, as the age 
of maturity ; and let such dividend be entered in 
a book for the purpose, to the credit of such per- 
sons, male and female. 

5. Let public sale be made, as soon after such 
dividend is made, as may be practicable, to the 
highest bidder, of all the real and personal prop- 
erty in the State. Care must be taken that the 
proper authority be required to divide all divisible 
property, that shall require it, into such allotments 
or parcels, as will be likely to cause it to bring 
the greatest amount, at the time of sale. 

6. All persons having such credit, on the books 
before mentioned, are authorised and required, to 
bid for, an amount of property, falling short not 
more than ten per cent, of the sum placed to their 
credit, and not exceeditg it more than ten per 
cent. Delivery may be made x)f the whole, if it 
be real property and the receiver may stand char- 
ged with the overplus. If it be personal proper- 
ty — delivery to be made, only to the amount of the 
dividend, unless it be secured. 

7. When property, real or personal is offered 
for sale, which is not in its nature divisible, and 
in its value such as to be of an amount — ^greater 
than would fall to the lot of any one person — then 
it shall be proper to receive a joint-bid, of two or 
more persons, and these may purchase in con 



140 

junction, giving in their names, however, at the 
time of sale. 

8. As it regards personal property, which may 
be secreted, or clandestinely put out of the way ; 
order should be given, that from the time when 
any Inventory, of any person's property of the 
kind, is made out, up to the completion of the 
General Sale, the owner should be answerable for 
the forth-coming of so much as may be left in his 
possession, at the peril of imprisonment for four- 
teen years, as is now the punishment for the crime 
of grand larceny, unless good cause were shown to 
the contrary. Similar punishment, also, should 
be visited upon everyone who, knowingly, gave in 
a false or defective statement of the property he 
had in his possession, or who, having received his 
patrimony, goes abroad and receives debts or pro- 
perty which the State has renounced. 

9. As the General Sales are closed, their 
amount should be ascertained, and a new dividend 
declared. It will then be seen how much this 
dividend, which may be called a patrimony, differs 
from the original dividend. By comparing the 
amount of each person's purchases with this pa- 
trimony, it will be seen whether he is creditor or 
debtor to the State, and how much ; and he will be 
entitled to receive the same, or required to pay it 
to, the State accordingly. 

10. There is one exception to the delivering of 
property to persons, who may bid it off. It is to 
those, for whom, from excessive intemperance, 



141 

♦ 

insanity, or other incapacitating cause, the law 
may provide, as it should, proper and suitable 
trustees or guardians. Under proper regulations, 
it should be entrusted to them, 

11. While all this is transacting, persons al- 
ready arrived at the age of maturity, and before 
they can be put in possession of their own patri- 
mony, will die. Of these and others throughout 
the State, a daily register should be kept from 
this time forward forever ; and so also should be 
kept, another register of the births of those now in 
minority, and of those that shall hereafter be born. 
The property intended to be given to those who 
shall thus have died, and the property of those 
who shall have received their patrimony in conse- 
quence of the General Division, and who shall die 
before the first day of January ensuing, the com- 
pletion of the General Sales, shall be divided 
equally among all those who shall have arrived at 
the age of maturity, between the time of taking 
the Census aforesaid, and the first day of Jan- 
uary just mentioned. 

12. An annual dividend, for ever, shall be made 
of the property, left, throughout the State, by per- 
sons dying between the last day of every year and 
the first day of the next succeeding, among those 
who, throughout the State, male and female shall 
have arrived at the age of maturity, within such 
period: and it shall be at their option, after the 
dividend is made, to receive it in cash, or to use 
the credit of it, in the future purchase of othei: 



142 . 

property, which the State will have constantly on 
sale, in consequence of the decease of other per- 
gons in the ensuing year. 

13. Property belonging to persons, not citizens, 
but transiently resident among us, and dying here, 
to abide by the laws which govern the State or 
nation to which such person belonged, in the dis- 
posal of property in such a situation ; provided 
such State or Nation allows the property, or the 
A^alue thereof, of ovi,r citizens, dying Mere, and 
leaving property, to be sent home, to abide by the 
operation of our own laws. 

14. Other States or Nations adopting a similar 
internal or^jnnization, as it regards the transmis- 
mission o property to posterity, and consenting 
to bestow patrimonies upon minors born in this 
State, (and who shall prefer receiving them in 
any such foreign State) upon their producing doc- 
uments certifying the fact of their nativity, age, 
&c. and that they have received no patrimony 
from their native State : shall have the favor re- 
ciprocated, under like circumstances: otherwise, 
a minor born in another State must reside the last 
ten years of his minority in this, before he can be 
considered as entitled to the patrimony of a native 
born citizen, and must moreover be liable to se- 
vere punishment, if, either after he has received 
his patrimony, he accepts aught from his native 
or other State, by way of legacy or gift ; or, be- 
fore maturity, he receives such legacy or gift, and 
then accepts the patrimony in question* 



143 

15. All persons of full age, from abroad, Am- 
bassadors &.C. excepted, resident one year nmong 
us, are citizens, and must give up ail property , 
over an amount equal to the patrimony of the 
State for the year being, unless such persons were 
citizens of a State, acknowledging the equal rights 
of all men to property, in manner the same as this 
State is supposed to do. 

16. All native born citizens from the period of 
their birth,to that of their maturity shall receive from 
the State, a sum paid by monthly or other more 
convenient instalments, equal to their full and de- 
cent maintenance, according to age and condi- 
tion ; and the parent or parents, if ! ving and not 
rendered unsuitable by incapacity in vicious ha- 
bits, to train up their children, shall be the per- 
sons, authorized to receive it. Otherwise, guar- 
dians must be appointed to take care of such 
children and receive their maintenance — allow- 
ance. They are to be educated also, at the pub- 
lic expense. 

17. When the death happens, of either of any 
two married persons, the survivor retains one half 
of the sum of their joint property, their debts 
being first paid. The other half goes to the State, 
through the hands of the Public Administrator ; 

this Officer taking charge of the effects of all de- 
ceased persons. 

18. Punishment by imprisonment, for a term of 
fourteen years, should be visited upon him, who, 
during his life time, gives away his property to 



144 

another. Hospitality is of course not interdictetlj 
but charity is, inasmuch as ample provision will 
be made by the State for such persons as shall re- 
quire it. The good citizen has only to inform the 
applicant for charity where his proper wants will 
be supplied. 

19. All persons after receiving their partimony, 
will be at full liberty to reside within the State ; or 
to take it, or its avails to any other part of the 
world which may be preferred, and there to re- 
side, as a citizen or subject of another State. 

20. Property being thus continually and equal- 
ly divided forever, and the receivers of such pro- 
perty embarking in all the various pursuits and 
occupations of life ; these pursuits and occupations 
must be guaranteed against injury from foreign 
competition, or, otherwise, indemnity should be 
made by the State. 

I have thus developed the piinciplcs of the mod- 
ification which the Government of this State slioukl 
undergo, and the means necessary to accomplish 
it, in order that every citizen may enjoy in a state 
of society, substantially, the rights which liclong to 
him in a state of nature. I leave the reader there- 
fore for the present to his own reflections ; intend- 
ing in the next chapter to offer such reasons as 
the subject admits, for enforcing the propriety of 
adopting such modification, and of the means pro- 
posed, of accomplishing it. 



145 



CHAPTER V 



REASONS 

In sujJ^ort of a General Division ofProjpertyj and 
of the method jproposed to he pursued in effecting 
it. 

In offering these reasons, I shall pursue, as far 
as may be convenient only, the numerical order 
observed, in the preceding chapter ; and in doing 
so, necessarily am called upon, to say why a 
State-Convention is requisite. Without much re- 
flection, it might appear, that as the vi^hole ques- 
tion involved, is, whose is this property, and 
whose this? and who shall have either or both, af- 
ter the present possessor, or possessors have done 
with it ? that it was simply a question of meum and 
tuum ; of mine and yours, in the first instance ; and 
in the second, another question, of the manner of 
the descent of estates. Now these are subjects of 
which the Legislature, have full cognizance, and 
it would seem, therefore, to be unnecessary to in- 
terfere with the present Constitution, to bring 
about any modification in these particulars that 
might be desirable. But if my estimation of the 
rights of property, is -correct, it will follow that 
the general and received opinion is wrong. I ad- 
mit, even in a State of Society, man's equal right 
to property, exclusive for all, if it be so for any, 

and consequent upon this admission, his equal per- 

13 



146 

sonal rights of every description. But this the pre" 
sent Constitution forbids in,various ways, and it is 
necessary, therefore, to abolish it and make a new 
one. For example, I propose to put up at public 
sale, all the public lands belonging to, and with- 
in the State, whether those adjacent to, and on 
which are found our valuable salt-springs ; or 
those that have been pledged by the Constitution, 
to what is called the School-Fund ; or those be- 
fonging to the Indians. I would give the same 
rights of suffrage to the red man, the black man, 
and the white man. I would oppose every thing- 
of privilege now disfiguring our present Constitu- 
tion, in whatever shape it might present itself : 
for it would be in vain that we should equalize, the 
first 'possession of property, as I have heretofore 
called that to which I afterwards gave the name 
of" patrimony," if so soon, as we have done so, we 
set about giving privileges or charters ; the direct 
effect of which is to disturb the equality we have 
just created, by taking property from some, and 
giving it to others. 

As to the Salt-Springs — there are those, no 
doubt, who have made up their minds, from the 
contemplation of things as they arc, that it would 
be impolicy, ever to suffer them to become pri- 
vate property. They would-be. in danger, such 
persons think, from the tendency which wealth, in 
a long course of time, has, to increase its own 
amount in the hands of its owners, independent of 
nolitical power, and for selfish purposes, of coming 



147 

ultimately into few hands — and then extortion 
upon the people, would be the immediate and cer." 
tain consequence, if interdiction to the existence 
of such an evil, were not written in our constitu- 
tion. But here is a new state of things, it may 
be, about to come up. A state of things such, 
that any one or more, of these Salt-Springs could 
never remain longer at farthest in any one per- 
son's possession, than the mature portion of his 
life. It reverts then to the public — and is neces- 
sarily transfered to other owners, as many as this 
kind of property admits of, by the process of sub- 
division. That enormous and overgrown wealthy 
which would be sufficient to engross this valuable 
property of our State, is only to be acquired by 
transmitting the accumulations of one generation 
to another, in an hereditary manner ; and as the 
state of society which this work presents to the 
consideration of the public, is intended to prevent 
this ; there could not exist the remotest possibility 
of their becoming the property of persons so few 
in number, as to destroy that competition between 
them which is so indispensable to the production 
of any commodity at the lowest price. Besides, it 
is to be considered, that these springs are not on- 
ly very abundant, but cover a great extent of coun- 
try ; five counties or more being supplied with 
them. 

If any one can possibly imagine that it is yet 
practicable for these springs to fall into the pos- 
session of a few hands, if the constitutional prohi- 



148 

bition were removed ; such person may see cause 
to doubt the truth of his opinion, when he come? 
maturely to consider the magnitude, even of theii 
present value, and the impossibility there will be 
of any person whatever, under the proposed 
change in the affairs of our State, to obtain the 
means of purchasing them, even if they should all bt 
offered up for sale at a time, (after the first Gene- 
ral Division,) a thing which can scarcely happen 
even perhaps in the course of a hundred genera- 
tions. For the value of these Springs is already 
very great ; though I have no means of ascertain- 
ing with any great accuracy, what that value may 
be. In twelve years, coming down to the present 
(1829,) the average duties that have been derived 
from them by the State, amount to about $75,000 
a year. If we take the interest on the capital em- 
ployed, at this sum also, it will probably be not 
far from correct : so that this item will afford a 
tolerably correct criterion, for ascertaining the 
value of the springs in question, according to the 
present modes of appreciating property. Now 
the capital necessary to earn an interest of $75,000 
a year, at five per cent, is no less a sum than one 
million and a half. In the first General Division 
of Property, if each person, arrived at maturity, 
should receive $3,000, the aggregate property of 
the State would amount to about three thousand 
million of dollars, which is probably above its 
value. How, then, will it be possible, for a man 
having only $3,000, to purchase that which wi(l 



149 

bring a million and a half? Five hundred such 
men would be requisite. A number perhaps great- 
er than is now engaged in the business of making 
salt. 

Nor can a foreigner, supposing him to have 
enough to enable him to do so, come among us, 
and monopolize it. To do this, he must become 
a citizen, for an alien cannot hold land. And 
even if our laws, did admit aliens to own land, it 
would be very easy, as it is also proper, to alter 
them so as to forbid it. But a foreigner on be- 
coming a citizen, must abide by the duties of a 
citizen : and of course, must give up all he has 
over a patrimony equal to that possessed by every 
other citizen.* If, therefore, shortly after having 
done so, he should go forth and purchase such an 
immense amount of property as the Springs sup- 
pose, it would be evidence, that he had not sur- 
rendered up all he had ; and such a transgres- 
sion, would warrant his entire dispossession of his 
purchase, and punishment in addition. In the 



* Article 14. p. 142, provides ; that the children of foreigners 
emigrating here, and becoming citizens, shall be entitled to patrir 
mony on arriving at the age of maturity ; provided they have resi- 
ded in the State ten years immediately preceding. This is pro- 
posed, rather as a principle of good policy, than as a matter of 
right, in him or her who may receive. And it occurs to me to sug- 
gest for inquiry, if it should not be thought worthy of being adopt- 
ed, how far it would be good policy to supply the deficiency, by 
bestowing upon poor aliens becoming citizens, or upon their chil- 
dren, born in « foreign country, the excess of property, which hy 
Article 15, is required to be given up, by rich foreigners, on cOSiing. 
hereto be eitize|rs. 

*13 



150 

ultimate future progress of this System of the 
Rights of Property ; I do not anticipate that ii 
would be correct or proper, thus^ to order a fo- 
reigner to lay down all that he has, and take up, 
only, so much for his own exclusive use, as would 
be equal to the patrimony of a person just ar- 
rived at maturity. It is proper only^ when he comes 
from a country, which does not acknowledge the 
equal rights of men to property. Coming from a 
country which does acknowledge such rights, and 
which has given him his patrimony, and to which 
also, it may be, he has added the acquisitions of 
many years of industry, it would be manifestly 
improper, and contrary to the intentions of the 
System recommended in this work, to touch a cent 
of it, so long as he lived, otherwise than in taxes 
for the support of government. To do otherwise 
than this, would contravene the spirit of the 19th 
article, ill the preceding chapter : — which allows 
every receiver of his patrimony, to take it, or the 
avails of it, to whatever country he shall prefer, 
without molestation or hindrance, there to spend 
his life, if to him it shall sfeem good. 

There is another obj»'Ction, which will present 
itself to some. May not, they will say, a great 
number of these proprietors, if they shall think 
proper, combine to demand an extortionate price 
for salt ? I answer, no. For then, as now, will 
there be severe penal laws against all combina- 
tions ; but then, more than now, will they be ri- 
gidly enforced. Besides, to guard against their 



151 

ill effects, it will be necessary to limit the number 
of persons composing associations even. And 
this will be the principle of limitation : — no asso- 
ciation, or combination of the exertions of any 
number of individuals, will be allowed at all, for 
any purpose, where the persons constituting such 
number, can carry on the business to which the 
association would direct their efforts, as advan- 
tageously for the public benefit, as well without 
an association, as with it. Thus, it will be allow- 
able for ten men to own a ship in company ; for 
they can own it in no other manner ; and can 
employ it in no other manner ; inasmuch as 
it will cost so much, that no number less than ten 
perhaps, can command means enough to purchase 
her. But it would be manifestly improper to al- 
low the combination to extend farther.* It would 
be manifestly dangerous, to admit all ship-owners, 
to combine, and form a common treaty, to demand 
such price for freight, as such treaty should re- 
quire. It would be as improper to allow all the 
bakers to conspire to fix the price of bread ; or all 
the millers to combine to say how much they 
would have for their flour. The operation of all 
these fraternities of trade, would be to obtain 
more than could be obtained of the whole commu- 



* Houses, particularly in cities, would not only be more costly 
than would comport with the means of a single family to purchase 
a whole one; but they also, in many instances, contain room enough 
to accommodate several. They might, therefore, be sold in parts : 
and each purchaser own such part, as now, he owns the whole. 



152 

nity, if they did not exist. They would, therefore, 
be suppressed, by direct and criminal prohibition, 
as well in the case of salt,. as in all other things. 

It would be easy to show, mathematically, the 
utter absurdity, of the supposition, that any man 
could possibly obtain possession of such a vast 
amount of property as the purchase of the Salt- 
Works of this State, necessarily implies. In the 
present state of the world, there are instances 
enough, of single individuals owning from one to 
ten and even more millions of dollars. But let 
the system at present under consideration, be sup- 
posed to be introduced every where, and the case 
would be very different. Although every man, 
he who now has been able to amass his ten mil- 
lions, asAvell as every other, would possess the 
full exercise of his talents, his genius, knowledge, 
industry, and economy ; yet, no one then could ex- 
ercise them over the destitution of his fellow-citi- 
zens, since such destitution would not exist ; and 
of course, no opportunity would exist to obtain 
enormous returns, for enterprize and industry. 
And, even if there were such opportunities, the 
great number of competitors, which a perpetually 
equal division of property constantly produces, 
would narrow down exorbitant profits, to that, 
which is altogether reasonable. If it be said, that 
all this is very well, on the supposition that the 
System is universally introduced, but that it does 
not apply till that period arrives ; I answer, that 
it applies in part, and probably to a much greater 



153 

extent than at first thought may be imagined. A 
cargo of flour, it is true, might be bought in New- 
York for five dollars a barrel, and conveyed to 
Lima for instance, where it may be sold for sixty 
dollars, owing perhaps, to a state of war and con- 
sequent famine. Yet, if, in this State, the new 
System, were introduced, previous to this cargo 
being taken to Lima, the exorbitant profits, real- 
ized in the case before us, would be shared, in all 
probability, by some ten, twenty, or fifty men. 

It should be recollected, that equal property 
being given to every human being as he arrives at 
the age of maturity, would necessarily cause equal 
education, instruction, or knowlege, or nearly 
so ; and, indeed, it is a provision of the system? 
I support, that such instruction shall be equal, in- 
asmuch as it is afibrded at the public expense. 
No one, therefore, could have the power, to makis 
his possessions bear on him who had none, for 
none such would exist. Nor could there be so 
much diflference in the riches of the mind, as to 
aflford an opportunity to him who should know 
most, to extract property from him who should 
know least. Under all these circumstances of 
equal condition, as regards both property and in- 
tellect, no one could by any possibility amass a 
fortune greater than that of another, by any oon» 
siderable amount. To suppose the contrary, 
would be to imagine that a man who begins the 
world as every other man begins it, both as to 
property and knowledge, equal with his fellows 



151 

having, say ;J3000, could yet, nevertheless, obtain, 
and obtain, too, from his fellow-beings, for there 
are none other of whom to obtain it, an increase to 
this possession, say, if you please, of $3,000,000 
dollars. If this were to be estimated, as having 
been obtained, by labor, at the rate of one dollar 
a day, over and above his expenditures, for his 
maintenance) it would be equal to the labor of 
three million days ; or ten thousand years pre- 
cisely ; reckoning 300 working days to the year ! 
Yet, the mature part of such a man's life, cannot 
be reckoned with any propriety, at more than fifty 
years ; and in many cases, at not so much as half 
this term. Why, then, let me ask, should the la- 
bor of ten thousand years, be given for that of 
fifty ? Why should it be, that the labor of some 
thirty, or forty, or fifty years, of the life of John 
Jacob Astor, for instance, should be paid for with 
the labor of ten thousand years of his cotempora- 
ries ; and cotemporaries, too, of whom it may 
certainly be said, that their labors, aud their lives 
are quite as valuable, and meritorious in and to 
Society, as his can pretend to be ? Had the sys- 
tem existed, which it is my wish to see introduced, 
such a thing could never have happened in human 
society. 

Men starting equal in property and knowledge, 
could never have been cheated or forced into any 
such enormous injustice, as that of giving the la- 
bor of ten thousand years, and more, for that of 
tifty ! Nor, of course, could any man, John Jacob 



loo 

Astor, or any other person ; starting with only his 
equal patrimony, or perhaps with nothing, as he 
may have done, have come into such enormous 
possessions ! It is only by mankind having suf- 
fered governments, to cheat much the greater 
part of the posterity who succeeded them, out of 
their rights of property, through the instrumental- 
ity of wills, that such enormous wealth in a'single 
individual, has been allowed to accumulate. It is 
obvious, therefore, I think that no one, under the 
new arrangement of things, could possibly obtain a 
monopoly of the Salt Springs, or of any other pro- 
perty, even for a single life-time. 

After having thus obviated the objections that 
may have seemed to oppose themselves to a pub- 
lic Sale of the Salt Springs, thus making them 
private property ; it is proper to state the objec- 
tions that arise in my mind to the State's retain- 
ing them as public property, and leasing them out. 
In the new order of things, men will be very much 
disposed as they are now, to have what they may 
call their own, during their own natural lives, and 
which they may dispose of, whenever they shall 
think fit, in, what may be called, perpetuity to 
them. But if a lease be taken for a term of years, 
that term may be considered judicious by some, 
and injudicious by others, and unreasonable by all, 
as no one can know, whether such term would be 
the same as, or more, or less than, their natural 
lives. If a lessee dies, and leaves a portion, of the 
time of the lease, unexpired ; such portion would 



156 

not so readily obtain a purchaser, as if it were in 
fee-simple, (be it understood, however, for the 
term of the purchaser's life, he continuing still to 
keep it :) Nor on the other hand, if the lessee sur- 
vived the expiration of his lease, would he feel the 
same disposition to renew it, as he would to keep 
it, if it had not yet expired. Besides it is easy to 
imagine that a person, of the age of maturity, 
may believe that he would best consult his own in- 
terest, by investing his patrimony in one or more 
of these Salt-Springs, and, it may be, for five or 
ten years, remains, contented with his situation, 
but at the time alluded to, perhaps, sees that he 
could improve his condition if he could sell his 
Springs, as other land-holders sell their estates. 
But if the man who would otherwise be the pur- 
chaser, at a price mutually agreeable, cannot have 
them, for the term of his (the purchasers) natural 
life, it is an impediment in the way of a ready 
transmission of property from one cotemporary to 
another, frustrating as far as it goes, one of the 
most important purposes of society ; to wit, the 
entire freedom of exchanges. I lay it down, there- 
fore, that there should be no such thing as public 
property'put out upon lease. 1st. because in the pro- 
posed new modification of society, men will stand in 
situations of equality with each other, which render 
it incompatible with their private welfare : and Sd. 
Because it has the unavoidable effect of diminish- 
ing the quantity of the public wealth by obstructing 
the facility of exchanges. 



. 157 

The same, or rather similar objections present 
themselves in regard to the retension of the pub- 
lic lands, by what is called the School Fund. 
Education is certainly and deservedly, a most im- 
portant consideration with the people of this 
State ; and there is no doubt, that the expense of 
giving it should be borne by the State. But at 
the same time, it would be manifestly improper to 
withold them from the proposed General Divi- 
sion ; since this is the best way of bringing set- 
tle»3 upon them, and thus making such of them 
as are capable of it, valuable ; unless, indeed, it 
be thought best to submit them to the operation 
of lease ; the objections to which apply with the 
same force here, as to the Salt-Springs. Besides, 
it is absolutely as ridiculous, for a State which is 
competent to accomplish what it undertakes to 
accomplish, to lay by, a certain sum in one place, 
for one object ; and a certain other sum, for ano- 
ther object, in another place ; as it would be, for a 
gentleman who knows himself to be able to pay 
for whatever he shall call for, at a tavern, to have 
money in one pocket to pay for his glass ofwinct 
and in another, more of the same, for his crack- 
ers and cheese. If the State or Gentleman, are 
not able to pa^ for what they order, they should 
not order at all ; but, if they are, there is no oc- 
casion for two or more pockets. Let the School- 
Fund then be annihilated ; and let a new and gene-' 
ral arrangement take place for providing a Trea- 
sury, out of whidi, all objects are to be paid for 

14 



158 

which the Legislature shall order to be accom 
plished, without having so many ridiculous and 
unmeaning distinctions. 

The present Constitution guarantees to the In- 
dians of this State, the entire and exclusive pos- 
session, of what they, as well as the State, call, 
tlieir lands. Now, these, on the principles alrea- 
dy indicated in this Work, are, of right, to be sur- 
rendered up, in order, that if they be more than 
their equitable proportion, some of them shall be 
taken from them ; if they be less, then, that more 
may be given to them, so as to place them on a 
footing of equality with their white brethren, ii> 
respect to both real and personal estate. To 
break, then, this guarantee, it is necessary to re^ 
model the Constitution, and for this, a Conven- 
tion is the proper instrument. 

The same eternal and indissoluble ^rights, exist 
for all : " all men are created equal :" and ne> 
ther governments, nor others, have any right, so 
to speak, to uncreate them. The black man's right 
to suffrage, being a personal right, is as perfect 
as the white man's ; and, so also is his right of 
property. But, if the present constitution existed, 
and the colored citizen were put in possession of 
his equal portion of the domain of the State, and 
all its personal effects, he would not have the 
$ame right to appear at the ballot boxes, as the 
white man. It is necessary that he should have 
such right ; for elsewhere there is no power, but 
Unlawful force, with which he may defend hi^ 



159 

property. Those who could go to the ballot-box- 
es, and put in their votes, could, by that very act, 
take it away from him, without hi^ having a 
chance to make reprisal or resistance. It would 
be nonsense on the one hand to say, " this is your 
property f and on the other, to tell him ; " but 
you shall not have the same power to defend it, as 
belongs to another." Nor, can it be pretended, 
on any account, that what, some people call poli* 
cy, should sanction the with-holding from the 
black man, the same right of suffrage, which is 
extended to the white man, by reason of the for- 
mer existence of slavery among us. The numr 
ber of colored people, in the State of New-York^ 
is very small, when compared with the white 
population. In 1825, the whites were about;^ 
1,570,000, and the colored people, about 46,000$ 
so that there are upwards of 34 whites, to one of 
the African race. A ratio so disproportionate as 
to banish every thing like objection to give to 
them a full enjoyment of their rights, from the 
most fastidious mind. 

But if the principle is to prevail, that property 
is given to any human being, in the right which 
such being holds to it, in virtue of his existence ; 
and that the right of suffrage, being a personal 
right, co-existent with the being himself, belongs 
to him also, as a means of its defence and preser- 
vation, as well as of his personal liberty ; it fol- 
lows that woman as well as man, is entitled tb 
the same right of suffrage, and ought, on no con- 



160 

sideration to be deprived of it. It is not necessa^ 
ry to say one word on the propriety or utility of 
Its exercise ; this is a matter to be left, wholly 
and exclusively to the judgement and pleasure of 
her or him to whom such right belongs, independ- 
ent and regardless, even> of the whole com* 
munity. 

To restore the right of suffrage, to those tf> 
whom it has hitherto been denied, but to whom of 
^course it belongs, with as much propriety as it be- 
longs to any one, it is necessary that the State 
Constitution should be remodelled ; and for this^ 
in addition to the reasons already given, it is re- 
quisite to assemble a new State Convention. 

It will be right and proper to repeal all charters 
of whatever kind they may be, and thus to consign 
them to a grave from which there shall be no re- 
surrection. But as I do not undertake to say that 
any thing ought to be done, without giving a rea- 
son why, in any case ; I shall not do it, in this. 

In the first place, if property be equally di- 
vided among all ; if all have equal personal 
rights ; if administration of the laws, which of 
course, are supposed to be made equal, is impar- 
tially made ; what occasion is there, for charter r 
Is it that more money, more profit, may be made 
by the party receiving it> than could be made with- 
out it? If not, what is it wanted for at all f And 
if it is wanted for the sake of more profit, than 
could otherwise be obtained ; out of whom, is it to 
be made ? Is it not to be made, before charter hi\ 



161 

granted, out of the community ? And after the 
charter be given, is it not also to ba^ made, out of 
the same community ? And is it, then, any benefit 
to any community that such charter should be 
granted ? Besides, where is the right ? Where 
is the correct moral power, to compel any com- 
munity or any portion of any community, to pay 
more for a commodity or a service, in the presence 
of a charter, than in its absence ? And if the cor- 
rect moral power, the honest principle of right, is 
wanting to grant such charter, how have Legisla- 
tures, legitimately done it ? How had they the 
true power to do it f For the true power to grant 
a charter, or to do any other legislative act, is the 
good of the whole community. But it is not to the 
good of the whole community that they should be 
made to pay more for a commodity or a service, 
after the granting of a charter, than before it. 
How then has any Legislature done it, with any 
authorized power ? And if they have grantedi 
what in fact they had no right to grant, is it a le- 
gal grant, is it, generated, as it is, in wrong, in 
power usurped ; is it, I ask, any grant at all ? Is 
it not a nullity, which stands self-revoked before 
an impartial community :* Besides if the Legisla- 
ture had no power to bestow any such supposed 
charter, what right has the party receiving it, to 
accept it ? Can the thief oi power, give a valid 
title to the receiver of power stolen; any mofe thalf 
he who has stolen goodfe, can give a valid title to 
their receiver ? Will not an impurlial community 

14* 



162 

which punishes crime, and takes charge of the 
public welfare, chastize the criminals on the one 
hand, and break their charters on the other ? 

Of course I say nothing of charters, if any such 
there be, which do not, and are noi intended to 
obtain, more from the community than could or 
would be obtained without them. These, at least, 
are harmless to the public, whether they be or be not 
useful to those who receive them. And to suppose 
that a people ever intended to sanction any other 
description of charter, would be to say no less than 
that they were willing to give an express authori- 
zation to others to rob them ! No constitution, 
therefore, whatever it may say, can ever be sup- 
posed to have had any such meaning, without sup- 
posing a whole people to have lost their senses ; 
and in such case, such constitution would be a very 
bad fountain from which to derive authority. 

But it is said that a charter is, or may be, a 
contract made between the government, and the 
Charter-party, for the benefit of the community, 
and that, therefore, it is not to be broken. This 
would be strange enough when the breaking of a 
contract, is a thing which is done every hour of 
the day. What ! ]>tay not the Public Authority 
break its contract, with the Brooklyn Ferry Boats! . 
Why not ? Arc they not able and willing^ too, ta 
make good all damages, which may arise in con- 
sequence of any such breach f Besides, how much 
damage, does any one think, that it is possible, for 
their proprietors to prove they sustain, merely be- 



163 

cause they are deprived of the power of preventing 
others from carrying passengers cheaper than th&y 
do ? How much damage could the New- York 
Gas Light Company show that they suffered, if 
such were the fact, that others furnished hght, of 
an equal quality and at a lowei price ? Is an in- 
dividual, is a company wrong e* f ; are they injured, 
because they are stripped of the power to command 
greater price, than honester competitors are wil- 
ling to accept ? Moreover, we are told, it is for 
the benefit of the community. How is this ? In a 
question of damages, between the community on 
the one hand, and the proprietors of a charter, on 
the other, might not the community say, show us 
how much you have received at our hands, over 
and above what would have been required of us, 
at other hands, and then we will listen to you with 
some patience. Till then your charter is revoked, 
and you must be content to do business on the same 
terms as other men ; that is, you must engage with 
the competition of your fellow-citizens. 

But some charters, it is pretended, have actually 
done public service for which they have not yet re- 
ceived the promised consideration. The Manhat- 
tan Bank, it is said, has furnished water to our 
citizens ! And do not our citizens pay them for 
it? And if they do not pay them, whose fault is 
it ? Is it because the company is restrained, by 
their charter from asking such a price for it, as 
will indemnify them ? If so, then, are such of our 
citizens as thus receive water from this company^ 



164 

receiving it at a price below its worth; and the re- 
mainder of the community is making good the de- 
ficiency, with profit to the company. Here then 
are features of iniquity which are sufficient to viti- 
ate the whole charter, if there were no other. In- 
asmuch as only a. few are benefitted, how can it be 
said that it is for the benefit of the whole commu- 
nity ; and if not, why should they be called upon 
to pay the consideration ? In truth, is not the 
claim for remuneration found to rest with the other 
party, inasmuch as they have been actually injured 
instead of being benefitted ? If the fact had ac- 
tually happened, that some Banking Institution, 
this, for instance, had constructed for the State, 
the Erie and Champlain Canals, in manner as 
useful and valuable as they are now, in consid- 
eration of receiving a Banking privilege, extending 
through all time ; still it would be competent, and 
morally correct, in the present or any other genera- 
tion, or the government which should act for them, 
to repeal such privilege, and withhold it altogether. 
A.nd all that justice could require at the hands of 
the government, in favor of the Bank, whose char- 
ter is supposed to be thus repealed, would be sim- 
ply this : 05 much as they could possibly have made by 
an equal application, of industry, talents and re- 
sources in any other way* Then justice would be 
satisfied ; for no one would be injured, either by 
giving too much on the one hand, or receiving too 
little on the other. For justice does not consist in 
giving more for a commodity or a service, than an 



165 

equivalent. A promise to do more is an injustice, 
if it be fulfilled, to the promisor himself, which he 
has no more right to inflict on himself, than on 
another. 

But, there is a very important reason why a 
charter, which is pretended to be granted /or ever, 
is one, which, of all others, with the greatest pro™ 
priety, may be doomed to immediate death. It is 
because the authority granting, or rather pretend- 
ing to grant it, has, and can have, by no possi- 
bility, a right to make such a grant ; and, for the 
reason that it extends its power over the succeed- 
ing generation ; whereas it might at least seem to 
be more plausible, if it only affected to extend 
power over the generation then in being, and for 
whom it pretends to act. But as to enforce the 
truth of this remark, even with reference to go- 
vernments as they are now constituted, I cannot 
use language or argument more appropriate, than 
the following quotation, I shall use it, instead of 
my own. 

" There never did, there never will, and there 
" never can exist a parliament, or any description 
*' of men, or any generation of men, in any coun- 
" try, possessed of the right, or the power of 
" binding and controlling posterity to the end of 
'* timey or of commanding for ever how the world 
** shall be governed, or who shall govern it. Andj 
^' therefore, all such clauses, acts, or declarations, 
^ by which the makers of them attempt to do, 
'^ what they have neither the right nor the powe^ to 



166 

»* do, nor the power to execute, are in themselvcsj 
'* null and void. Every age and generation must be 
*' as free to act for itself, in all cases ^ as the ages 
'^ and generations which preceded it. The vanity 
** and presumption of governing beyond the grave, 
'* is the most ridiculous and insolent of all tyran- 
•* nies. Man has no property in man ; neither 
" has any generation a property in the genera- 
'' tions which are to follow." — Paint's Works, 
V. 2, p, 39 — Rights of Man. 

If it were not arguing the question with too lit- 
tle respect to the dead ; we might say, to all 
those who are dissatisfied with the arffuments 
against the validity of charters granted in per- 
petuity, which have, on a multitude of occasions, 
been urged, by a multitude of writers of the great- 
est talents; " inasmuch as it is neither the peo- 
" pie of the present day ; nor their government, 
" who have granted you this ancient charter ; go 
•< ye to your grantors; go ye even to them; 
'* awake them from their graves ; and demand of 
" them, either the fulfilment of their grants, or 
** restitution in damages therefor ; for it is to 
'* these, if to any, that you have a right to look 
*' for the realization of your claims; and not to the 
*♦ living. These have their own happiness to con- 
" suit, and know nothing of those, from whom you 
** pretend to derive your claims." 

One of the most common objects for which 
Charters are solicited is that of carrying on Bank- 
ing opgrations ; and as these, in the way in which 



167 

iliey are conducted, are political machines by 
which more interest is obtained for the use of mo- 
ney, than they could otherwise receive, (otherwise 
they would not be wanted), they are objectionable * 
for the same reason, that charters for ferries, for 
Gas Light, and for other purpose:^ are. But as to 
accomplish their object they contrive, through the 
assistance of Legislatures, who are often and pro- 
bably always bribed in some way or other, to a 
greater or less extent, to obtain possession, in 
whole or in part, of so much of the Sovereign Pow- 
er as is exercised through the coinage or the 
Mint ; and as the real nature, of the use they 
make, of such possession, is not so well understood 
as it ought to be, it may not be amiss, that it be 
examined a little more in detail' It will serve to 
make more heeded the warning which this work 
gives, not to suffer such institutions as those I am 
considering, to have existence in the system pro- 
posed therein to the consideration of the reader. 

In understanding this subject, as well as any 
other, it is only necessary to dig deep enough to 
discover the foundation ; to go hack far enough, to 
arrive at first principles; and then, the plainest 
intellect may be sure he does not deceive himself. 
Let us now suppose the people of this State, to be 
organized in manner — such as I have already sug- 
gested ; that each has his equal value of property ; 
that they are all exercised in the different arts, 
trades and occupations, which they intend to pur- 
sue ; that they need perhaps, Roads and Canals. 



168 

which are not yet constructed, but simply laid oui 
ready to be completed : and that they have no 
money. What is to be done ? I suppose them 
" to be well aware of the use, and importance of 
money, in effecting exchanges, by substituting its 
agency, for the troublesome and almost ineffectu- 
al operation of barter. How may it be introdu- 
ced ? In one way, thus : 

Government would possess, it may be supposed, 
a given quantity of silver which it would cause to 
be made into coin of various sizes, such as we 
s,ee now issue from the United States' Mint. And 
no other than the government is supposed or alj 
lowed to have any of this metal. So soon as this 
coin is made in sufficient quantity, in the judg- 
ment of the government, conveniently to answer 
its intended purpose, the operation of introducing 
• it begins. The public authority now addresses 
each and every individual thus : ** You are all 
"equal, in rights of person and property; you 
^* have each an equal interest in cutting these 
•■* Canals, and making these Roads ; for, they are 
"for the common benefit; now, provide, each of 
^^ you, yourselves, with your own provisions, imple- 
*' ments, &c. — and come and labor either on those 
" public works, each an equal numberof days, until 
^' they be completed ; and then receive, each of 
'* you, an equal share, by weight, of these pieces 
'' of silver, large and small, and take them home 
'*' with you ; and, thereafter as you, have received 
"them, as it were, in satisfaction of your labor; 



169 

direct or indirect, on these Public Works — 
-'though they are in truth, your joint property, 
'*and as such are their own reward; yet let these 
'* pieces of silver, pass from one to another, in 
"' lieu of barter, which you have heretofore prac- 
*' tised, as a full satisfaction, to which ^ be it under- 
** stood you all agree, for what you wish to obtain 
*' or have to dispose of." In this way, may we 
suppose, probably however contrary to the fact, 
that money was introduced among men. 

Being once introduced, and each having an 
equal quantity, the natural operation of the di- 
versity of occupations pursued by the different 
members of the community, would be, immediate- 
ly to render it unequal. One perhaps is an agri- 
culturalist, and must wait the progress of the sea- 
sons, for the return of his industry. In the mean 
time, he pays away all the money he has, and 
perhaps contracts debts, for articles of necessity. 
Others prosecute the arts from which returns are 
had, hourly, daily, monthly and yearly. So that it 
is impossible, after the reception, each of his own 
equal share of his money, from the Public Author- 
ity, that it should ever be equal again, among 
them, at any one period of time: though the total 
quantity which each may possess in any one, two, 
or three years will be as nearly equal as may be. 
At least such is the purpose of every well found- 
ed society. 

Suppose, now, some sagacious, but avaricious 
beings, finding how much the possession of money 

15 



170 

is rendered unequal, by the natural and unavoid* 
able operation of inevitable causes ; and seeing 
bow eminently beneficial it is, in the transaction 
of exchanges, over that of barter ; and having 
also, in their own hands, by the very action of the 
causes which they so well understand, an une- 
qual possession, for the time being, of the coin of 
the country, should, by any means that they may 
find sufficient to delude the judgement, or corrupt 
the integrity of the government ; obtain a charter 
to deal in the precious metals. What might not 
be expected to take place ? To what calamities 
to the public, would not such an assemblage of 
nearly all the coin of the communit)', Into the pos- 
session, and under the management , of a few 
hands, inevitably lead ? Would it not amount, in 
fact, to a destruction of the coinage : to its utter 
banishment from the community; and to a con- 
sequent return to a state of barter ; or, in order 
to avoid such an alternative, would it not lead, to 
the negotiation of a treaty between each individir- 
al of the community not interested in such Char- 
ter, and the Bank itself, as it would be called, 
whereby sl price would be given, /or the use of that 
vjhich belongs to the public; which 2vas made at 
their expense ; and which price, but for this 
unlawful combination of accidental holders of 
the coin in question ; could not, by any possi- 
bility be obtained. I say unlawful combination, 
notwithstanding it has a charter from the Govern- 
menf. For it is evidently of that description, 



171 

which goes to injure the great majority of the 
community, for the benefit, the iniquitous and 
guilty benefit, of a few j and it is this feature 
which makes it unlawful. It is as much unlaw-^ 
ful in its operation, though not in its form; as a 
combination, by agreement, of the same holders for 
the same purposes would be ; and combinations of 
this kind, all governments have not failed to pun- 
ish. The principal reason, why charters are 
sought, is, that government having authorized a 
combination, the same in principle as a private 
combination cannot consistently punish a trans- 
gression, in which they themselves are, in law 
language, particeps criminis; or in other wordSj 
partakers ; though stern and rigorous justice de- 
mands, that they should punish those who receive 
an iniquitous charter, even, though it be from 
themselves, as readily as they would any other 
off*ence. But the government, if strict justice 
were done, ought also to be punished in a similar 
way. For the term government, in this case,, 
means simply the public servants. These latter, 
therefore, as richly deserve punishment, as would 
the butler of a gentleman, who should give away 
his master's wine, without authority to do so, to 
some acquaintance or companion ; and it would 
be singular enough, if this latter should undertake 
to detain it, from the butler's master, and that on 
the plea of contract ! Nor would the matter ap- 
pear any better, if another of the gentleman's 
servants, the hostler for instance, should under- 
take to play the Judge ; and to decide against his 



172 

master, in favor of the illegal holder of the wine! 
Yet a transaction of this sort, exhibits all the fea- 
tures of chartered rights and privileges. 

I trust, then, it is apparent to the reader, where 
society begins as it ought to do ; that Charter or 
combination, is the only means whereby can be 
obtained a frict for the use of money ; in other 
words, interest. And these being both illegal and 
improper, interest is also. 

Let it not be said, that the holder of a piece of 
coin, is therefore, owner, absolute owner, and has 
an absolute right to do with it as he pleases ; to 
withhold it from circulation, if he chooses ; to de- 
stroy it. No such thing. He is absolute owner of 
it, only within certain limits ; and these limits are 
prescribed by his relation with his fellow-beings, 
through their common government. This coin was 
made at the expense oj the whole community ; and 
was and is therefore^ their sole property. The hol- 
der has only the use of it. And this use is, to su- 
percede the necessity of barter in exchanges. To 
destroy it, then, or what is the same thing, to keep 
it where it cannot be used at ally is to prevent such 
use, and to frustrate the purpose, the declared and 
agreed purpose of its creation. Who, then, has 
this right thus to counteract, thus to defeat, the 
intentions of society ? No one. But it may be 
asked, may not the holder of a piece of coin, keep 
it by him, ybr any length of time, without use, with 
the same propriety that the owner of a plantation, 
may refuse or neglect, for any indefinite period, no 



173 

matter how long, to cultivate it f I answer, cer- 
tainly. But I reply, also, that neither has this 
right. The common property of mankind, when- 
ever it is divided equally among them, I mean sub- 
stantially so, is divided for some purpose ; other- 
wise it would continue to be held in common. 
What is that purpose ? Why, simply, this : that 
each for himself may employ his industry to great- 
er advantage, by consenting to such division of the 
common property ; and agreeing, one to follow 
one occupation ; another, another ; and so on ; 
than he could possibly realize, in any other state 
of things. Without such agreement, he would 
necessarily be compelled to sui)ply all his own 
wants, by direct application of his own industry ; 
and this would leave him in a condition wretched 
enough. To avoid such an extravagant waste of 
his labor, he comes into society ; and agrees to 
make hats ; if another will make shoes ; a third 
produce wheat ; a fourth, bar-iron, «fec. &c. and of 
all these and more, each a quantity, of the articles 
he produces, beyond his own wants, sufficient for 
the supply of the wants of others. Here then, is 
a contract, the fulfilment of which, requires, that 
each make use of his fatuities and resources for the 
benefit of others. How then shall it be said, as a 
matter of right, that any one may leave his pos- 
sessions, or his industry, unproductive ? It cannot 
be. Substantially, every man, upon entering into 
society, agrees, to make his industry and hivS pro- 
perty, productive of a superfluity, for the use of 

15* 



174 

others ; and others, in like manner, for his use. 
The obligation on any particular person, is not 
specific, it is true, as to the objects to which the 
application of such industry and possession is to be 
made ; and the reason for this, is obvious enough ; 
but it is nevertheless imperious, it is substantial ; 
and for no cause whatever, can it in justice, be 
suffered to be evaded. This it is, which is the 
true Social Contract. '' You shall supply some 
"one of my wants ; I will supply some one of 
"yours;" and so each one speaks to every mem- 
ber of the community. Nor was it ever intended 
that there should be one among them, who should 
supply no body*s wants ; no not even his own. 
Money is necessary to transfer these supplies, 
from their producers to their consumers ; therefore 
ivas it invented and prepared by society ; and there- 
fore, also is the purpose for which it was made, a 
reason sufficient to forbid its destruction or retire- 
ment from use. 

But if all these arguments are not competent 
to satisfy any one's doubts, as to the right he may 
fancy himself to possess, to destroy, for example, 
a dollar, which he has honestly acquired, let me 
present him with another. I have supposed, in 
the formation of the State in question, that a cer- 
tain quantity of money was created and issued ; 
and that, thereafter, no more was introduced into 
the community. Whatever the quantity might 
be, prices would soon find their level, and main- 
tain it, until some cause should disturb it. If we 



175 

go a step further, and imagine that our State has 
no connection with any other State or nation, we 
shall perceive that prices would remain without 
fluctuation ; they would be steady ; and being so, 
circulation would perform the greatest service for 
the community, and all its members, of which it 
is capable. Let us now imagine, that some one, 
secretly and unknown to the government, obtains, 
it may be, silver quite as pure as that which the 
government has issued, and makes an amount 
equal to it, of othei coin, so exactly resembling it, 
that it is not possible to detect any difference. It 
passes, therefore, as government-coin. What 
would be the effect of so doing f Would it not 
transfer, speedily, immeiise possessions into the 
hands of such a person ? Would it not be pre- 
cisely the same thing, as if such possessions, were 
divided off to him in the original instance f Yet, 
we all know, in the original instance, the great 
majority of the community, would not suffer such' 
person, or any other, to have them assigned to 
him. Nor does the real silver, in this case, hap- 
pen to have an effect, in any manner different, 
from that which would be produced, by an equally 
successful imitation of it by some base metal. It 
may be more rare, more difficult to be obtained, 
and thus it may be rendered less jpractieabhj clan- 
destinely to increase the circulating medium, but 
it would not be the less counterfeit, in all the ef- 
fects which it would produce, and which go to dis- 
tinguish it froni the legitimate coinage, first issued 



176 

by the government. Nor, is this transfer of pos- 
sessions, to the spurious and unauthorized manu- 
facturer and issuer of the coin in question, the only 
evil attendant upon the illegal introduction of it. 
By continually varying the quantity of the circu- 
lating medium from less to more, after prices 
have once fixed themselves and found their level; 
it disturbs such level, and brings about, in the 
minds of the community, a constant uncertainty of 
price ; and this is, always, seriously detrimental 
to the progress of the labors of industry. 

If, then, the addition; the unauthorized addition 
of coin, which in every other intrinsic requisite, 
except that it is not issued by the Sovereign 
Power, is as good as that of the government, pro- 
duces such effects, what will not be produced by a 
contrary procedure ? Will it not unfix prices, to 
diminish the circulating medium, as readily, as 
it will, to augment it ? If so, no one can have 
the right, so to speak, to annihilate his own dollar. 
It is true, by so doing, he does not, as in the for- 
mer instance, augment his own possessions ; but 
he diminishes them ; and transfers the amount of 
such diminution to the remainder of the commu- 
nity ; and this he has no right to do, more than he 
has to do the contrary. Justice belongs as much 
to himself as to another ; and he has no better 
right to be its violator to the injury of himself, 
than he has to be its violator in the person of 
another. 

If these observations, upon the theory of the 



■;j 



177 

operation of money, and, particularly, of augmen- 
tations to, and diminutions of, its amount, are well 
founded; it would seem, that all the governments 
in the world, if they had truly understood their 
duties, in relation to it, would have declared the 
precious metals, wherever found, to he public 
property. In part, such declarations have been 
issued, and acted upon; whether from a principle 
of avarice, or from an enlightened understanding 
of the propriety of doing so ; it is not now worthy 
of inquiry. Spain, subsequent to her discovery 
of Mexico and South America, at one time appro- 
priated, to herself, one half of the nett proceeds 
of all gold and silver mines wrought in these coun- 
tries ; afterwards one third was accepted instead 
of one half; and ultimately one fifth, at which it 
continued to remain, until she lost her dominion 
over them. But the scarcity of these metals, all 
over the globe, compared with the other metals; 
the cost, hazard, and uncertainty of working the 
mines that produced them ; the diminutions con- 
sequent upon wear, losses in the ocean and other 
places, where it is irrecoverable ; the appropria- 
tion of them to purposes of plate, and other uten- 
sils ; the multiplied demands for them by modern 
commerce, though a greatly augmented power of 
production, by means of labor-saving-machines 
and processes; together with the additional fact, 
that while the precious metals are increasing, the 
population of the world is increasing also ; all 
these have conspired to render it impossible, in 



178 

any period other than a very long one, consisting 
of some hundred years perhaps, to produce an 
augmentation of any more than a trifling compar- 
ative amount. Had circumstances been otherwise, 
government vt^ould have found it necessary to have 
interfered; and to have declared, that they belong 
inalienably to the sovereign authority; and of 
course, that they were incapable of private appro- 
priation or possession ; or to have fixed upon some 
other material, as the basis of the circulating 
medium. 

It results then from this discussion, that banks 
even for the safe keeping of coins of gold and sil- 
ver, for these only are money, are institutions not 
to be tolerated in any community, unless it be that 
they be wholly^divested of all private control or 
management ; and have over them, officers ap- 
pointed by the government, as is the case in Am- 
sterdam ; whose duty it should be to receive all 
gold and silver, which any person may wish to 
leave for safe keeping ; to keep it safe ; to enter 
the amount to the credit of such person on the 
books of the bank ; and to pay it, in whole or in 
part as the case may be, forthwith to his order, or 
to transfer the credit of its amount, to him who 
bears the order, on the same books, and for sim- 
ilar purposes.* 

But we live at present under governments which 



* Hamilton's Report on the subject of the National Bank, 
1790. p. 34. 



110 

allow of the receipt of money, for the use of money; 
in common language, interest. That this is alto* 
gether, an injustice done to him who pays it, and 
a crime in him who receives it, will be evident 
enough, if it is not so already, in the further pro- 
gress of this work. But as there are too many 
who suffer under the grinding oppressions which 
Banking Institutions are inflictmg upon them; and 
who yet consider, for reasons, which, for the mo- 
ment are satisfactory to them, that they are a bles* 
sing to them, rather than otherwise ; and as it is 
both necessary and proper to undeceive them, it is 
expedient therefore, to investigate the operation 
which Banks infallibly have to make worse even 
the present condition of things. 

To understand this operation, we must go back 
to a period anterior to the creation of any Bank, 
and compare the state of things then existing to the 
state subsequent to such creation. If, in that ear- 
ly state, comparatively speaking, (for banks are of 
quite modern invention, and as far as it regards 
the greater part of the world, are utterly unknown 
to them, even now) the rate of interest was allow- 
ed to fix itself, as now, in commercial transactions, 
commodities find their own price ; then it would 
manifestly be an inroad upon the fair principles of 
trade, to allow the lenders, by means of a charter, 
or any other process, to combine themselves to* 
gether, /or the purpose of destroying their own com- 
petition; and thus enabling them, to obtain more of 
the horroivers, than they otherwise could. Such 



180 

ii combination I have already shewn, uhetlier witli 
charter for its protection, or without it, is as just a 
subject for punishment, as would be any similar 
combination of freighters, bakers, butchers, cloth- 
iers, &c. ; inasmuch as they are all conspiracies 
for extorting more from the community than they 
could'otherwise obtain. In their effects and char- 
acter, they do not differ from a man who should 
make a garment at a price, such as equal competi- 
tion compels him to accept, and who afterwards 
should way-lay his customer, and with a pistol at 
his breast, compel him to hand forth as much 
more as would make him the master of as much 
money for the making the garment, as he could 
have obtained by being one of the combination. 
And as one is punishable, so ought the other to be, 
in an equal degree. 

But Banks exist, as it regards ourselves, in a 
country where the rate of interest is fixed by law; 
and where, in name^ they do not dare to take more 
than the legal rate of interest ; but where in fact, 
they do. How is all this accomplished ? 

It is sometimes attempted by unthinking men, 
to say, in relation to the interest taken by Banks, 
that it is not usurious ; that it docs not exceed the 
limits of the law. Why then, I ask is a Charter 
wanted ? Is it to allow them to take less 9 Are 
the money lenders, when the rate of interest is fix- 
ed at, say, seven per cent, apprehensive of insult- 
ing the majesty of the law; of trampling upon the 
rights of others; if they should happen to take three 



181 

|ret cent? The matter must be explained on 
other principles, before an inquiring mind is satis- 
fied. 

The truth is, they issue notes of an amount 
greater than they have gold and silver to redeem 
with ; and yet promise to pay such notes on 
demand! On these notes w^hich they so issue, 
they receive interest, as though they actually v<rere 
so much gold and silver : whereas, if they were 
called upon to loan this quantity of gold and sil- 
ver, they would be obhged to say ; *' We have it 
not ; we have only so much." The usury consists, 
then, in drawing interest on that which is not mo- 
ney, and is lent ; together with that which is both 
lent, and is real money, in effect ; inasmuch as there 
is specie ready for its redemption. 

Thus all the Banks, in the State of Rhode Is- 
land, collectively, as appears by some late returns, 
have lent out, their own notes and have of them, 
now in circulation to 

the amount of - - $887,969 17 
Whereas their specie to re- 
deem with, is only - 357,512, 07 



Thus drawing interest on 

the sum of - - $530,357 10 

more than they actually have it in their power to 
lend ; and of course, more than they have lent. 

The banks in the State of Georgia, by some late 
returns, appear, collectively to have in circulation, 
and of course are drawing interest upon them, 

16 



182 

tiotes of the amount of • $2,243,482 44 

While their specie to re- 
deem with is only - 662,087 65 



Thus in this instance drawing in- 
terest on the sum of - $1,571,394 79 



Over and above what the borrowers actually re- 
ceive at their hands. 

The Chemical Bank in this city, presents great- 
er enormities ; and the Dry Dock Bank, still 
greater yet. 

The former, that is the Chemical, is drawing 
interest on notes of its own, lent out to its custo- 
mers, and which are now in circulation, to the 
amount of - - - $155,164 00 

And its specie to redeem with 

amounts only to - - 20,094 47 



The excess is - - - $135,069 53 



The Dry Dock Bank has notes in circulation, 
•on which it is likewise drawing interest, to the 
amount of - - - $158,100 00 

Whereas its redeeming specie 

is only - - - 8,476 55 



Leaving an excess of - - $149,623 45 



Who is it, that would not understand this usury, 
if it were presented to him, in the following man- 



183 

ner ? That is : let him go in the name and be- 
half of the whole community, and borrow, of the 
Dry Dock Bank, their $8,476, and 55 cents in 
specie, and give his note for the return of it at a 
future day ; eind another note also for the payment 
of interest, not on the specie borrowed, but on a 
greater sum, in paper, in promises; a sum amounting 
to $158,100. As it regards all the interest which 
the Bank would have in such a transaction, it 
would be altogether a matter of indifference, tvith 
them, whether the paper, the promises, or any part 
of them were ever taken out of the Bank at all, or 
not. Jliey, on $8,476, and 55 cents, would receive 
the interest which would become due, on $158,100; 
more than eighteen times the amount of money, 
which they actually lend ! Thus, while this com- 
pany is doing a portion of the ordinary business of 
life, connected with the commercial marine of the 
country, andsofaras this goes, performing the duty, 
and nothing more than the duty of good, and use- 
ful citizens, on the one hand, yet on the other, they 
are receiving over 18 times the legal interest on a 
sum of gold and silver which they happen to have 
in their possession ! 

Let him go in the same way to the Chemical 
Bank, and on their $20,094 and 47cts. in gold 
and silver, pay the interest, (more than seven time^ 
what it should be,) accruing on $155,164. Let 
him borrow of the Banks of Georgia, their specie 
$672,087 and 65cts : but pay them interest on 
more than three times its amount ; say, om 



184 ' 

$2,243,482 and 44cts. Let him last ofali pro- 
ceed to Rhode Island and borrow their specie ; 
say $357,612 and 7cts. and paying interest on 
$887,969 and 17cts. eome home again, and ask 
himself, if he does not understand how this usury 
is obtained ? 

It would be no denial of all th#is usury, to say, 
that no one is obliged to pay it. As long as it is 
paid or received, usury exists. And, besides, it 
is a compulsory usury; inasmuch as all the money 
of the community, that is the gold and silver, is in 
the hands of these incorporations, or nearly so ; 
and there are but two things to be done ; one is 
to go without money altogether, resorting to bar- 
ter again ; and the other is, to take the faJs-e 
money witb the genuine, and pay interest on 
both. 

And now tltat he has done all this; let him re- 
flect that it is precisely the course a private usur- 
er pursues, when he wishes to obtain more inter- 
est than the law allows him ; except, that two 
notes are drawn instead of one. He gives for ex- 
ample, his tkousami dollars in ijold and silver : 
and takes, privately and secretly takes, in the ab- 
sence of all witnesses, a note of the borrower, for 
some twelve or fifteen hundrcjd ;, as may be a- 
greed on ; paying interest on the whole. It mat- 
ters not to the merit of the question, in what/orjw 
or shape it is accomplished. The same effect be- 
ing produced, the same character attaches. Noi^ 
does it alter any thing, to say that the private 



185 

usurer's note, which he receives of his bonowet, 
does not enter into circulation. For the pub- 
lie good, it is not necessary ; although, even for 
that, its intrinsic w^orth is such, as equally to en- 
title it. Without it, and without also, any of the 
notes, now in circulation, suns would rise and set ; 
the wants of hunger and thirst be satisfied ; all 
the transactions of man, would go on, as well with- 
out, as with them ; and the proof of this, is, that 
before Banks existed, such was the fact ; and 
that where Banks do not exist, such is the fact 
now. A Bank, therefore, which lends more of 
money, than it actually has, or pretends to do so, 
for it is of such Banks that I complain even as re- 
gards the present condition of things, is actually 
contravening all laws which go to restrain usury ; 
and ought to be punished, and have its charter 
broken. 

But, the want of circulation, need not be an ob- 
jection to the private usurer's transaction being 
considered as of the same character, with th« 
transactions of ordinary Banking. Let now, a 
Bank be supposed to be authorized, the Chemi- 
cal Bank, for example, to take its $20,094 and 
47cts. in specie, and add thereto enough of base 
metal, to make of it, an amount equal to their notes 
in circulation, to wit, $155,164, Let these be 
lent to the Community ; let interest be paid on 
the counterfeit dollars ; let them circulate from 
hand to hand; and, the effect is precisely the 
same as the present paper system of Banking. 

16* 



186 

In both these cases it is expected, and the rcsuH 
is almost uniformly so, that the borrowers bring 
them in again, and pay the interest thereon ; and 
there is no occasion for the issuers, to provide good 
money with which to exchange them, on de- 
mand, if it were even to be admitted they had the 
ability to do so. Here, also, usury is as plain a^ 
the sun at noon-day ; and here, there is no want 
of circulation. 

Besides, a word more may be added as to this 
matter, of the circulation of Bank notes ; since 
the apologists of Banking Institutions, when hard 
pressed for argument, do not fail to resort to it. 
Let it be understood, then, that interest is not paid 
to them for their notes, merely because they are 
circulated ; but, because they are loaned. The 
borrower may, if he pleases, lock them up in his 
bureau ; but the Bank of whom he borrowed them, 
will nevertheless, demand their interest. Be- 
sides, if any one is to be paid any thing on ac- 
count of the circu ation of the notes; it is the bor- 
rower who is to receive it, and not the Institution 
of whom he borrowed : for, he it is who circula- 
tes them ; and who borrowed them for that very 
purpose. Otherwise, he would not have borrow- 
ed them at all. 

But, some are ready to say : " well, it is in part 
" as you represent; but, may not a Bank loan out 
'< its credit, and draw interest on that?" I answer, 
no. But it one Bank, or one person, is entitled 
to draw interest on credit, so also, does the right 



~ -187 

to do so, belong to another. Now, if John Jacob 
Astor, who is able, any day, to buy five Banks 
like the Chemical, should go to it, and say, " lend 
me $155,164;" there is no doubt, they would ac- 
commodate him ; that is, they would lend him 
their notes ; and he, in return, vjould give them his 
wo^e, payable at a future day. Now, I ask, why 
should not John Jacob Astor, receive interest on 
the note which he gives to the Bank, as well as 
pay interest, on the not- they give him 9 Be- 
cause, it is said, they are payable on demand. So 
far as $20,094 and 47ctP will go, they are; but 
no farther ; all ^Ise is si ply a promise to pay on 
demand ; but a promise, jikewise, which can ne- 
ver be realized; and, therefore, a false promise. 
It is manifestly sl false promise, inasmuch as, if the 
same demand were made on all the Banks, at one 
and the same time, they could not help one ano- 
ther, to make good the promises of any one of 
them ; and for the single reason that the enemy 
would be at their own doors too. If, therefore, 
there is any good reason why John Jacob Astor 
should not receive interest, on all but the $20,094 
and 47cts. it is certainly, because of this false 
promise ; for a true one, it never can, and never 
was intended to be. 

So the laborer, for example, or any one else 
who should have transactions with him, to whom 
John Jacob Astor should give one or more of 
these paper dollars, in payment for some service ; 
might say, *' Sir, this is not money ; it is only a 



188 

'^promise of money ; it is something to which I 
^ may give the credit of its being money ; but 
** nevertheless, until I have it actually converted 
'^ into money, I expect interest in return, to be al- 
" lovi^ed to me on its amount." No one could ob 
ject to the propriety of this expectation. For as 
John Jacob Astor pays extravagant and usurious 
interest to the Chemical Bank ; so all who tran- 
sact any money business with him, must expect 
to pay a portion of it. If they do not then, John 
Jacob must pay it all : and in this event, he would 
not long remain solvent ; he must soon become 
reduced to poverty. It is thus we see how every 
man is made to pay a share of this usury. 

It is evident, therefore, in whatever view we 
comtemplate Banking operations ; that they ag- 
gravate the evils of the present system of things ; 
and that of course, they are more particularly to 
be excluded from admission into any system which 
looks, in the first place, to the propriety of giving 
to all men, their equal share of the property of the 
State ; in the second place, to the transmission of 
the same equal share to posterity ; and in the 
third, to their preservation from all disturbing 
causes. A State-Convention, therefore, would 
have the power of expunging all permission to 
any Legislature to erect any chartered corporation 
within the limits of the State. 

It may be said that the exception I make to all 
Chartered Corporations, would go to divest even 
our City Corporations, of the power, of repairing 



18D 



our streets, or even locating a lamp-post. Ther€ 
is no doubt very great propriety, in hesitating to 
give any such body any considerable exercise of 
power. If it had not been felt to be so, our State 
Authorities would have given to our Common 
Council, the power to have collected taxes, from 
the citizens ; to cut through private property for 
the purpose of making new streets ; and to have 
done many other things, which they cannot now 
do, without first obtaining the consent of the State 
Authority. Our Common Council, now, in all the 
most impoitant snb}ect9 of legislation, is nothing 
more than a large committee, as it were, appoint- 
ed by our citizens, to investigate public affairs; to 
report what is or is not expedient to be done; and 
to ask of the public power, to give to their re- 
quests, their approbation. That they may yet have 
too much power in their hands, for the public 
good, I do not doubt. But the view I have been 
taking of Charters, is of a description dissimilar 
to these. It was, of Charters, which undertake 
to give exclusive privileges that I spoke, and not 
of those which delegate, as it were, to a County, 
that portion of the Sovereign Power, which takes 
due care of the roads passing through it, &c. &c. 
though even, here, care should be taken that such 
delegation be very limited and judicious. I even 
venture to hazard an opinion, though I have not 
1 confess, reflected very maturely on the subject^ 
that it would be quite as beneficial under certain 
circumstances, to maintain the Lefislature in 



190 

perpetual session , to dispose of even all our Coun* 
ty matters; as it is to have them managed as 
they now are. I know, it would be objected that 
they could never have time. Nor indeed) would 
they, if a wh6le winter's Session, were to be ab- 
sorbed by discussions on Bank Bills — and such 
other subjects as are intended to give exclusive 
privileges : — But if these, which absorb so very 
great a portion of the public time, were by our 
State Constitution to be interdicted, even from 
discussion there, as it is very proper they should 
be, the case would be very different. 

In relation to Charters, Mr. Paine says,* " It is a 

** perversion of terms to say, that a Charter gives 

,^* rights. It operates by a contrary effect, that of 

^^ XaTcing rights away. Rights are inherently in all 

'^ the inhabitants ; but charters, by annulling those 

" rights in the majority, leave the right by exclu- 

** sion in the hands of a few. If charters were 

*' constructed so as to express in direct terms, thai 

** every inhabitant who is not a member of a corjpora- 

" tion, shall not exercise the right of voting ; such 

" charters, would in the face be charters, not of 

" rights, but of exclusion. The effect is the same 

" under the form they now stand ; and the only 

** persons on whom they operate, are the persons 

** whom they exclude. Those whose rights are 

** guaranteed, by not being taken away, exercise no 



♦Rights of Man, page 202 vol. 2, of his Works, published ilj 
Philadelphia, 1797. 



191 

'"• other rights, than as members of the community 
*' they are entitled to without a| Charter ; and, 
" therefore, all charters have no other than an in- 
"'direct negative operation." 

I may apply these remarks and illustrate them 
by examples very near home. The Brooklyn 
Ferry Boats or rather their owners, by means of 
their Charter, prevent others from carrying passen- 
gers ; whereas they could and would do it, without 
obstruction, and at a cheaper rate ; but for this 
Charter. The New- York Gas Light Company, 
supply gas-light to citizens, within certain limits, 
and have a charter to prevent any one else from 
doing it within such limits ; although but for this, 
the consumers of that article, would be furnished 
with it, /or less money. The Dry Dock Bank has, 
among others, an exclusive right to combine for the 
purpose of drawing interest, at the rate of one 
hundred and twenty or thirty per cent per annum 5 
upon its gold and silver money, while "private per- 
sons cannot combine, and can only receive seven per 
cent. Nor can this institution pretend that it is 
justly invested with that portion of the Sovereignty 
of the State, which resides in the mint, even sup- 
posing our State Government to have any sove^ 
reignty in the matter at all ; because to furnish 
the community with a paper, medium in this way, 
even allowing the State, for its own sake, to de- 
sire such medium, is to do it under circumstances, 
which give one Ifender of money only seven per 
cent, per annum, and another, one hundred and 



192 

twenty or thirty ; a feature of injustice, which 
goes at once to declare the Charter null and void. 
Besides, if we ask this company, what is the con- 
sideration on which they pretend they have the 
right to draw from this Community, interest on a 
gratuitous and false sum of nearly $150,000; 
what will they say? Why, that in order to make 
these notes for the benefit of the community, as 
they are falsely pretended to be, they have gone, 
in the first mstance to the enormous expense, in 
paper, plates, <fec. &c., of $2,776, and 32 cents, 
with, in addition, a few annual contingencies ; and 
that for this, they are to receive, by way of inte- 
rest, above $10,000 a year, forever !* 

It is against Charters such as this, (hat my re- 
marks have been directed ; and not against City or 
County Corporations ; which being confined with- 
in very narrow limits, are meant to act on subjects 
of general interest ; and never on those of private 
and personal concern ; though, as said before, 
even this is not to be done, if the sovereign Pow- 
er, can as conveniently do it, in its own right and 
action ; and such will probably be the case, 
whenever men shall have been made equal, as well 
in property as in other things ; for then, will any 
and all perceive that it would be, even if they de- 
sired it, out of their power to obtain the wealth of 



* See their Report made to the Legislature, lately, where 
their contingencios are put down at $1,730, and 77 cents : 
and the other item as above. 



others by any indirect exertion, and of course the 
time of our Legislatures, would laot be taken np 
as it is now, in discussing subjects ; which coivkl 
not then be allowed to result in any ultimate exis- 
tence. All incipient operations, for improper ob- 
jects, and the time they now eonsume, would there- 
fore, be superseded by occupations directed to ho- 
nest and useful legislation. And it can scarcely, 
I think, b© doubted, that our Legislative agents, 
would then find time enough to do, all that is 
wanted to be done. Government would then be 
a plain things as Swift say s^ and fitted to the capa- 
city' of many heads. 

Nor cap it be said, 1 apprehend, that because I 
allow ten or twenty men, as the case may be, to 
own a ship, or a steamboat jointly, that I contra- 
dict my own arguments, against the propriety of 
allowing charters of incorporation. These asso- 
ciations, it will be said, are essentially institutions 
of that description. This, however, is a mistake. 
In the first place, if we are to have an equal pos- 
session of property, at all, in what may be called 
the morning of life, it will happen, that we must 
own property jointly on many occasions, or cease 
to have, existing among us, many kinds of proper- 
ty, which we now consider as of the utmost im- 
portance. It results, then, of necessity, that these 
Associations should exist. And, of the kind I am 
now speaking of, a Dry Dock, such as has a Bank 
Charter attached to it, and whose operations, in 
this city, I have made the subject of observation, . 

17 



194 

19 an example. All that we have to do, in in 
grafting these small associations into our political 
fabric, is to see, that we obtain all the good effects 
we desire of them, and that we take care that they 
produce injury to no one. 

And in relation to the necessity of owning many 
kinds of property jointly, through the agency of 
Associations ; it may not be without its use, before 
going any farther, to remark, that there is, per- 
haps, no kind of business now carried on in hu- 
man society, in which the number of persons em- 
ployed therein, would not possess, if the proposed 
new order of things was established, a sufficiency 
of property to make themselves, the owners of all 
that is necessary to carry it on. Thus, a ship has 
such a number of men, that they, with their a- 
mount of property, would be able to purchase and 
own it. A steam-boat, would, most likely be in 
the same situation ; more particularly if all the 
persons who are immediately connected with it, by 
their daily occupations were taken into the ac- 
count. The Dry Dock, already referred to, often 
employing its hundred men and more, would be in 
the same situation. A ship-yard also, and so of 
large mercantile establishments, with their clerks, 
porters, and cartmen, and of any other pursuit. 
And it will not fail to add strength to this opinion, 
to reflect that the wives of all these men will pos- 
sess as much of property as their husbands, and 
that this doubles the amount. The persons fol- 
lowing any of these various employments; would 



195 

most naturally and rationally invest their proper- 
ty, where they meant to exert their industry. And 
as it is, more or less, necessary, in all pursuits 
conducted through the aid of Association, that 
there should be a Principal, a Manager, an Agent, 
a Captain, &;c. &>c. these will all be selected by 
such Association ; obey its instructions ; and be 
subject to be superseded by better men, whenever 
they shall disobey them. I return now to the po- 
litical features of these Associations. 

In contemplating their character, we are to 
consider them, as having two relations ; one with 
themselves individually ; another, as acting on, 
and acted upon by, the community, in which they 
exist. First, that the Community, or any portion 
thereof, may receive no injury from them, they are 
not to be too numerous ; that is to say ; if the 
wants of this City, required the use of two dry 
docks ; the same association should not be au- 
thorized to own them both. I know there are 
many who will object to such restrictions on pro- 
perty held by associations ; but, if such persons 
will consider, that by allowing them to hold pro- 
perty, without limit, it would, in fact, be authoriz- 
ing all bakersy for example, to associate their bu- 
siness under the control of one common head 
and direction ; and thus to combine to jfix the 
price of bread ; it will be obvious, that such unne- 
cessarily large associations, would be adverse to 
the interests of society. These remarks will ap- 
ply also, to all other occupations 5 and, if they 



196 

were to be allowed at all, would lead to reprisal; 
by one occupation upon another, extending, in 
their operation, even into new aggressions upon 
the coram unity. If two or more, dry docks were 
wanted in this City, as already supposed, there 
should be two or more associations. Nor should 
the members thereof, so far be composed, of the 
same individuals, as that the operations of the two 
or more associations could be controlled or govern- 
ed by them. Nor, would it'be allowable, on the sup- 
position that they were composed in whole or in 
part of different individuuals, to come into any 
understanding, or contract, therefore, as to prices, 
to be charged or received by either, from their 
customers. To suffer a contrary course of pro- 
ceeding, would be to subject the community, to 
all the evils arising from conspiracy or combi- 
nation. 

Secondly, these association's must not injure the 

public by their debts. Every member must be 
answerable to the full extent of all his property, 
for the debts contracted on account of the associ- 
ation. But, if a member contract debts, in his 
own behalf, and not for the objects of the associ- 
ation, only his share or interest in the association^ 
is made responsible for their payment. The 
other members of the association, are to be kept 
harmless of him. 

Thirdly, as it regards the members of the As- 
sociation internally, that is, among themselves ; 
the majority is to respect the rights of the minority ; 



197 

if they do not^ the Great Common Authority, 
that presides over all, will have the proper power 
to require it at their hands ; and so of any mem- 
ber. 

Organized in this manner, associations could 
not fail to be productive of all the good effects 
which we might have a right to expect of them, 
and to be divested of all the evils that an abuse 
of power might be fraught with. Sale would be 
made of the entire property of an association, 
whenever all the shares were purchased ; and to 
do this, would require the consent of each and 
every member. Majorities could not make trans- 
fer ; they could only direct the method of employ- 
ing, and using the property, and this only, with 
strict regard to the rights of all, and subject to the 
supervision, whenever any one of the association 
should require it, of the supreme power. 

The present Constitution, is objectionable on 
another ground. It undertakes to give privileges, 
and inflict disqualifications on religious consider- 
ations. It is necessary, therefore, that a new 
State-Convention to remodel it, in this respect, 
should be assembled. If there is any propriety 
in considering all mankind as equal in the estima- 
tion of the Creator who made all, it is certainly of 
importance, that the work of man, for such is go- 
vernment, should not contradict this equality. 
He who causes 'Vrain to fall on the just, and on 
the unjust," who has made this earth alike for all, 
could not certainly, be expected to sanction such a 

17* 



198 

constitution of government, as on the one hand? 
\Vould give to every man his equal share in the 
property of the globe on which he dwells ; and c^i 
the other ; take it away by the operation of ex- 
emption from contribution, and equal contribu- 
tion, too, to the public wants of that very commu- 
nity, which guarantees to him the possession of his 
just rights in society. In a community of men, 
of equal possessions, and who hold them by rights 
inherent in their very existence, how absurd, how 
revolting it would be, to see a Constitution, as the 
present one does, speaking of exempting men of a 
certain description, from bearing arms ; and of 
paying an equivalent to the State in money ! In 
the name of all that humanity can invoke, what is 
the sum which is the equivalent for life and blood r 
How strangely, how shockingly perverted does the 
human understanding exhibit itself, when such a 
comparative appreciation of money on the one 
hand, with life on the other, is found on the pages 
of the Constitution of a free people ! 

The truth, the whole truth, and notning but the 
truth in all this business, is this : That there is no 
natural reason why any particular person should 
receive his equal portion of this world's property, 
in any particular section of it, in the State of New- 
York, for example, more than elswhere : but, on 
the other hand, there is no natural or reasonable 
power to forbid his proportion being given to him 
here, 'provided he is willing to do his equal share of 
pnhlic duty, in Jcind and quantity ^ in treasure and 



190 

Sanger, Otherwise there is. Otherwise there 
would be hazard of injury, even to subjugation, not 
only to him who fails in this duty, but also to all 
others. These others, therefore, have manifestly 
the right to expel him from their society, who will 
not contribute to the public defence with his blood, 
if need be, and to associate with them, another in 
his place, who will. They possess this right, on 
the principle of self-defence. And, if oh the same 
principle of self-defence, against a^foreign enemy, 
a man is unwilling from any motive, to fight for 
his property and his liberty, he cannot have much 
cause to complain that his countrymen have dispos- 
sessed him, and ordered him out of the country, be- 
fore the enemy has had time or an opportunity to 
do it, for him. To him it can make little differ- 
ence, by whom the deed is done. He who will 
not defend his property ; and in such manner as 
the government of his country prescribes, has 
abandoned it already. Tell us not of the rights of 
conscience. Re has no conscience, who, in the 
first place, would abandon that which is truly his 
own to the invader, and then, after it has been de- 
fended against the enemy, by the blood of others, 
would come and claim it again ! He has no con- 
science, who desires to hold his own at the expense 
of the blood and treasure of another ; and is of 
course entitled to no other treatment under the 
laws than that which is meted out to every other 
citizen. 

Inasmuch, therefore, as the principle of equali- 



200 

ty is to be preserved at all hazards, no man is to be 
suffered to remain a citizen of the State, who 
contravenes that equality, by refusing to do his du- 
ty, in a point so essentially important as that of 
the public defence. 

It is the same principle of equality also, which 
forbids another to be ineligible to, or incapable of 
holding, any civil or military office or place, within 
the State. Of what avail is it to say, " that by his 
profession, he is dedicated to ^he service of God, 
and ought not to be diverted from the great du- 
ties of his function ?"* Legislation has nothing to 
do with men's motives. It makes no inquiry into 
their speculative opinions. It is directed to pro- 
mote the public welfare, by preserving their equal 
riglit to the reception of property, in the first in- 
stance, and to its preservation afterwards, and to 
the preservation also of the equality of personal 
rights* Yet how is this equality to be maintained, 
if, in time of peace, in order to qualify myself to 
be useful in time of war, I must, at my own ex- 
pense, give up five days of the year, in disciplining 
myself in the art of war ; while another, who is, 
and calls himself a priest, is wholly exonerated 
from performing a similar service f Undoubtedly, 
it will be admitted, that he is a good citizen, and 
that all are good citizens, who thus qualify them- 
selves for the public defence, w hen the public exi~ 



* See Constitution of this State, Article VII. Sec. IV. 



201 

gency requires it. Is it to be said, then, that, 
any man shall be exempted from a necessity thus 
to perform the duty of a good citizen ? And in' 
justification of such an exemption, shall it be said 
that the " service of God," or any other unmean- 
ing term, requires it ? Inasmuch as all men are 
equal ; if the " service of God" is to exonerate 
one citizen from the performance of any public du- 
ty no matter what it may be ; so W\\\ it exonerate 
another, and so will it exonerate all. A priest 
is but a man ; his duties to God and to man, are 
the same as those of other men ; neither more, nor 
less ; he, therefore, is entitled to have measured 
out to him, the same law of eternal and immutable 
justice. Beside, if religion were not wholly a pri- 
vate and personal affair ; if it were not as it is, a 
matter between man and the Being, who, he be- 
lieves, has made him, and in which government 
has no concern ; either to favor the priest or other- 
wise ; or in which it has no right to interfere, in 
any way, manner, or shape, whatever, farther than 
to require of him also the fulfilment of his duties as 
a citizen ; I might easily ask, what is meant by 
the ** service of God f". If the expression were 
applied to man, I should readily understand it. I 
should understand as any and every man does, 
that such "service" was something, whereby the 
man profited ; whereby he benefited ; by which 
his condition was made better. But, how are we 
to understand it now ? Is a priest capable of ma- 
king better the condition of the Almighty ? Is tjie 



202 

Supreme Being to receive benefaction from the 
work of his own hands ? I am pursuaded the weak- 
ness of no human being, is so great as to admit of 
any such absurdity. And if it be said, that it is 
meant that the condition of man, that is, the priest 
himself, is to be made better, then is it quite ano- 
ther affair, and is no more entitled to consideration, 
than is any and every other avocation, of any and 
every other man in society. If, therefore, any 
man must discipline himself in the art of war, so 
must the priest ; if any man must march out to bat- 
tle and to death, in his country's service, so must 
the 'priest ; and every other citizen. There must 
and can be no exemption. The equal rights of all 
require it, and the private wishes of a few, cannot 
be allowed to evade it. 

So much as regards the military. As regards 
ineligibility of the priest, to civil office, it is a 
disqualification which operates as an oppression 
upon him. It is manifestly unjust. Nor does it 
pluck out the sting of injustice, to say, that 
priests do not desire it. History shews abundant- 
ly, that the time has been, when they did. Be- 
sides, let us look around us, among the nations, 
now, and see, if we can find no priests exercising 
civil power. Nor is this all. By the presence of 
such a disqualifying clause in the constitution, the 
people, the Sovereign People, are prevented from 
choosing a priest for their civil officer, even, al- 
though ninety-nine men in every hundred should 
desire it. Claiming to be supreme over their own 



203. 

uAairs, they have yet fettered their own suprema^ 
cy, so as in this instance, to render it nugatory. 
These fetters present an extraordinary appear- 
ance. They do, in so many words, declare that the 
people, being fully free, and having all power in 
their own hands ; yet nevertheless, dare not allow 
themselves to exercise it, without restrictions^ 
This is not true freedom. Men should be bolder. 
And, whon they are truly free, they will be. If 
there be a class among us, who inspire awe and 
terror, whenever it is supposed they may aspire 
to the possession of office ; it is time, high time 
to dissipate such awe and terror, by coming into 
collision with those, who are the objects of it, as 
often as possible, at elections and elsewhere. And 
this is the only way; at least, it is a very efficient 
way, in which it can be done. If clerical gentle- 
men should be ambitious of civil honors ; give 
them the opportunity, for it is their right ; and 
my word for it, in a few years, they will lose 
whatever of undue influence, deference, and re- 
spect which a blind attachment to them now, on 
tho part of many, is frequently disposed to accord 
to them. If they should not desire office, the re- 
striction now existing would be of no avail. 

Nor, should it be said, after all, that the priest 
and the community are about equal ; that the 
disqualification for civil office, balances the ex- 
emption from military contribution of personal 
service. This equality is not to be presumed ; 
and, for the obvious reason, that it cannot be 



204 

known. Besides, it is not the business of govern- 
ment, to make a traffic, or a system of exchanges, 
in rights of any kind. Each is entitled to all and 
every that belongs to him, and cannot, by any 
operation that is just or equitable, be forced into 
a system of barter. 

It is proper to abolish the State Senate. Two 
Legislative Bodies having a negative upon each 
other, in the enactment, modification, or repeal of 
laws, present the extraordinary phenomenon, in a 
government that pretends to consist in the will of 
a majority, of contradicting this will, in their Halls 
of Legislation. One, and it may be, the larger 
body, may give its every vote, in favor of any mea- 
sure, and yet a majority-fraction of the smaller 
body, (the Senate) defeats it altogether ! The 
will of the smaller farty of the whole number of 
Legislators, is made to be superior to the will of 
the greater party ! It is time to expunge such 
an enormity from our Constitution. In no casCy 
may the minority rule ; either to defeat the en- 
actment of a new law, or to prevent the repeal or 
modification of an old one ! Both cases frustrate 
the public will, as well by a negative as a positive 
action ; and the one is no more to be tolerated, in 
a country where equal rights are intended to be 
preserved, than the other. Besides, how ex- 
tremely ridiculous does it appear in a community 
of citizens, to appoint agents to manage their pub- 
lic, concerns, and then order them so to conduct 
themselves, as that they may not be able to enact 



205 

ihe very laws, which, if they were submitted to 
them, in the first instance, the people themselves 
would be sure to adopt ! Not less so, however, 
than it would be, for a government to send two 
sets of Ambassadors to a foreign nation, with or- 
ders to each to make such a treaty as it should 
think proper, and then to return, with the result 
of their negotiations. If they should happen to be 
alike ; a treaty is made, that is to have effect ; 
otherwise, it is to be a mere nullity. Nations do 
not conduct in this manner, in their intercourse 
with each other. Nor should they with them- 
selves. 

I do not stop to answer a multitude of reasons, 
as they are called, that have been offered for con- 
travening the great principle, that a majority is to 
govern. This great principle being preserved, 
preserves to man the means of defending his 
rights : without it they depart immediately, and 
leave him a slave to others, beyond the hope of 
redemption. Renounce the rule, for once ; and 
calls will never cease to be made for more renun- 
ciations — ^till at last it will come to this, that a 
single individual shall govern the whole human 
race at his absolute will and pleasure. There 
will be no permanent medium. It will be in vain 
to say that the people appoint all ; and that there- 
fore, they are safe. It is not so, especially under 
the present condition of things. For after they 
have so chosen their Legislators ; there is among 
us a class of Aristocrats, who have the means of 

- 18 



206 

corrupting them — ^which they do not fail to use : — 
and every one sees that it is easier to corrupt a 
fewj_ than it would be a greater number. If it 
be said that in single Halls of Legislation, ma- 
jorities are sometimes too hasty and inconsiderate; 
it is admitted. That is, the faet is admitted, but 
not the inference. Whole communities, particu- 
larly at periods of election, become excited — and 
under the influence of the excitement, often do 
that, which in their better and cooler judsTment. 
they would not have done. Yet what a strange 
remedy, for the evils growing out of such excite- 
ment, would it not be, to provide for the division 
of the whole mass of voters into two classes—one 
very large perhaps, and the other very small — 
with a negative on each other ! In such an event 
would it ever be possible to choose a public officer 
at all ? This would be ruling by minority with a 
vengeance! But still, not more so, than as at 
present happens. 

But at the same time that single Halls of Legis- 
lation, may be occasionally too hasty and incon- 
siderate ; they may also be corrupt. Both would 
be offences, injurious to their constituents ; but 
let them be ready to give an account of their con- 
duct, and to receive the measure of disapproba- 
tion or punishment which that conduct merits. It 
is the apprehension that the Legislator must meet 
this responsibility, that is the true corrective of 
the evil complained of ; and not the oversetting 
the fundamental principle, that a majority is to 
govern in all cases whatever. 



207 

Distributed as property now is, and ever has 
been among mankind, it has been a matter of 
much indifference with men having none, who 
were the judges appointed to administer the laws, 
in relation to it; who appointed them; what was 
their term of office ; or what were the principles 
of law, by which they were guided in their ad- 
ministration. In a new state of things, such as 
that I now contemplate, this indifference vanishes. 
All men having an equal amount of property, es- 
pecially at their first entrance into mature life, 
will have an equal interest in all these ques- 
tions. The appointment of judges of every kind, 
will therefore, of course, be ordered to emanate, 
directly from the people without the intervention 
of any appointing power, as is now practised ; 
they will be limited to short and stated periods of 
service ; and will adopt principles of law, in their 
administration, which shall be furnished to them, 
by the community, and drawn from the elements 
. of their political edifice, instead of being borrowed 
as now from the usages of barbarous and stranger 
nations. To effect this reformation, in connec- 
tion with the many others which I have already 
mentioned, it will be necessary if my propositions 
are ever to be acted upon by the people of this 
State, to assemble a new State-Convention. 

So much have I offered, in justification of the 
necessity of calling a State-Convention, as a pre- 
vious step, in any attempt which may be made in 
our State-government, to give to every man his 



208 

equal share of the property within our limits^ It 
has necessarily occupied many pages, and required 
much of the time ^nd attention of the reader. 
But I trust it has not been without -profit. If ever 
an equal division of the whole elFects of this State, 
is to be made among the citizens ; and if ever the 
succeeding generation is to be allowed to have 
their proportion, as they come to years of maturi- 
ty, as it is their equal right they should; it is only 
to be done so as to be of any value, or importance 
to them and to us, by shutting out the operation of 
all those causes, which would go to destroy such 
equal division almost as soon as if was made ; and 
which even in the present condition of things, is 
constantly tending to aggravate, the inequality of 
property at present existing. As, on some occa- 
sion, Mr. Pitt,* in his ill humor, observed of the du- 
ration of republican government, founded upon 
the prmciples of the rights of man, that if such a 
government were erected at noon ; it would be 
dissolved before night ; so also would it be with 
the equal rights of property : if division were 
made at noon, it would be disturbed and destroy- 
ed before night ; if the destroying agents of char- 
ter, monopoly, privilege, ruling by minority in- 
stead of majority ; &c. &c., were not first put out 
of existence. 



* See " Mr. Paine's Letter to Mr. Secretary Dunda>. 
Paine's Works, vol. 2, p. 327. 



209 

The reader will bear in mind, that I am offer- 
ing my sentiments, and propositions to his consid- 
eration, on the supposition that he is desirous to 
come at the truth, and to receive and adopt it, how- 
ever much it may be at war with his present 
opinions. If he be not possessed of this candor of 
disposition, it will be well for him to know, that a 
majority of mankind are; and that if they shall be- 
lieve after having heard me through, and under- 
stood me, that I have marked out the path that 
leads to their happiness, and to the greatest hap- 
piness of which they are susceptible; they have the 
'power to enforce his submission to the adoption of 
a system, which he has not the honesty to treat 
with the candor which justice demands at his 
hands. It will be of little use, then, for such per- 
son, or any other, to object to an equal division of 
property and to support th<5 objection, after the 
manner of Mr. Pitt, by any ill-natured remark, such 
'as that if, at noon, it were so divided, even upon 
principles, as perfect as I, or any one else can 
find it in my or his power to name or to wish, it 
would be unequal before night ; and thence to 
make the inference that such a division ought not 
to be made at all. The time has been, and now 
is, in many countries, where by the law of the 
land, the oldest son inherits the whole of his fa- 
ther's estate, with an unimportant exception ; his 
brothers and sisters receiving nothing. In this 
country, where wills do not otherwise order, the 
whole estate, real and personal, is divided equally 

is* 



210 

s 

among sons and daughters. Might not the same 
man who objects to my proposition for an equal 
division of property, among all, object also to this 
equal division of the father's property among the 
sons and daughters ? Might he not say, with 
equal truth, that if it were so equally divided, at 
noon, it would be unequal before night ; and 
thence infer, that such an equal division ought not 
to be made ? Might he not as truly say, that it 
was manifestly better to give it, all at' once, to the 
oldest son, and leave the rest of the family, in pov- 
erty, and dependance upon their older brother ? 

There has been a time in the history of this 
country, and that not very far distant, when the 
eldest son, received a double portion ? Would 
not the same argument apply here ? Since pro- 
perty, according to the estimation of some who 
pretend to understand this subject, has a natural 
tendency to inequality; ther«sfore, it would be bet- 
ter to leave this oldest son, in possession of this 
double share of his father's estate, than it would 
be to divide it among all his children equally. Ac- 
cording to this doctrine, it is right to promote and 
increase the action of what it is thought impossible 
to prevent. Thus if murder sometimes happens, 
it is argued that it arises from some natural and 
original tendency which government, it is pretend- 
ed has no power to prevent ? The argument goes 
to say, that government should increase the com- 
mission of this crime as much as possible. So, 
because, in the opinion of any one, no matter how 



iie has imbibed such opinion ; no matter whether 
such an opinion be well or ill founded ; I say, be- 
cause such person thinJcs that property naturally 
tends, under any, and all circumstances, to inequali- 
ty ; therefoi e, it is correct to make such inequalityj 
or suffer such inequality, (for it is the same thing) 
to be, as great as possible. Thus, you must not 
only give to the oldest son, rwice as much as to 
any other son or daughter, but you must give him 
the whole ; and to carry out the argument, since 
among all the oldest sons to be found in any coun- 
try, at any one time, there is the same natural 
tendency to inequality among them, even if they 
were all equal, it wouid be equally proper to select 
some one of these oldest sons, perhaps the oldest 
among them, and give him all that belongs to the 
whole fraternity. Thus should we see the beauty 
of an argument like this ! The whole world, on 
thi^ principle, would come into the possession of 
one man : and he would be the owner of his fel-^ 
lows, just as now any man may own a tree that 
grows upon his soil ! 

It is, therefore, manifestly unjust, to object to 
an equal division of property, where there is a 
system accompanying it also, for its equal trans- 
mission to every individual of every succeeding 
generation, on any such ground as this. Besides? 
it goes upon the suj. position that this supposed 
tendency is a fact. It assumes, that, under the 
new system, the same causes would exist, which in 
the old systems have produced inequality, and 



212 

would likewise continue to produce and promote 
it in the new. If the objector and myself are to 
be considered, as looking upon this inequality as 
an evil, and one which ought to be remedied; then 
a few plain questions, being answered between us, 
settles the matter in this point of view for ever. 
If property be distributed equally among the chil- 
dren of any father ; is it not much more probable 
that it will remain and continue equal, than that 
it could be made equal afterwards, if it be dis- 
tributed unequally in the first instance ? On tlie 
one hand, depressed by poverty and its ten thou^ 
sand attendant evils, is it to be hoped, is it to be 
expected, is it to be believed, that these non-pro- 
prietors, can ever acquire property f As a body, 
they never can. One or two in a thousand, may ; 
and even these, more frequently than otherwise, 
by way of a sort of exchange. Thus the foolish 
habits, and ignorance of the rich on the one hand, 
and the arts of knavery on the other, which the 
designing practice upon men who come into the^ 
hereditary possession of estates, are made efFectu- 
aH sometimes to transfer these estates, to those 
who have little or nothing ; but still the inequal- 
ity exists. There is a change only as to those 
who are the proprietors, and those who are not. 
If then, by making property unequal, in families, 
it has been found, that an immense majority of 
such families continue to be poor, and miserable 
for ever ; was it not a very important improve- 
ment in legislation, which ordered property to be 



213 

divided equally among all a father's children, where 
he had not ordered otherwise? Are not such fa- 
milies, the oldest sons, as well as others, much 
more happy, under such a distribution, than they 
_were under a system, where the principle of equal- 
ity did not prevail. If any one doubts, let him 
ask himself, if he would consent, to bring back the 
old condition of things, if it were proposed to do ' 
so ? Would he say that the oldest son, once more, 
should have all ? Would he say, that he should 
have a double 'portion ? Would he or she say? 
that the sons, equally, should have two shares, 
and the daughters only one ? The oldest son, 
where he had an interest to do so, might say it, but 
what would be the opinion of the others ? If pro- 
perty, being unequally distributed, produces so 
much injury as it is known to do, it is becauso it 
is unequal; and not because any particular person 
is to have the larger portion or the whole. Thus 
in the supposed proposal to bring back the ancient 
condition of things, wherein one should have all, 
or more than any other, if it were to be determined 
hy lottery, who such particular person should be, 
to be drawn after they had resolved upon dividing 
estates upon the ancient unequal principles in 
question, it is very certain, that the old system? 
would not be suffered to be disturbed. It would 
rest in peace; for men, as they now understand 
their rights and their happiness, would not con= 
sent to bring it again into existence. 

The universal sentiment of mankind is opposed 



214 

io inequality, as well in property as in other 
things. Never, since man has existed, has there 
been found a human being, who has thought that 
an equal share with his fellow-beings, was likely 
to be, or by any possibility could be, an injury to 
him. Not one of all those persons who have re- 
ceived their equal share of their father's estates, 
since the laws have been altered so as to admit of 
it, can be found, or has ever been known, to con- 
sider such equal portion given to him, as adverse 
to his rights or his happiness. No such person has 
ever thought that it could be opposed to either, 
and has, therefore, sought to preserve, and add to 
the patrimonial gift, rather than to throw it away, 
as a curse to him. All this, is evidence of the deep 
importance of equality, to all who are permitted 
to partake of it. It is unimpeachable evidence, 
inasmuch, as if any such person had existed, who 
supposed this equal share of property to be an in- 
jury to him, he had in his own hands the remedy. 
He had only, freely and immediately to give it 
away, without receiving any return therefor. Nor 
since the existence of man, has there ever been a 
time or a place, where such gift could not find 
acceptance. 

I know, very well, that there will not be want- 
ing thoughtless, as well as captious men, who will 
contradict these positions. They will tell me, 
that everyday and every where, there may be 
found men, who will confess ^ that the giving to 
them, their natural share of property, would be 



215 

an injury to tlieui. And they will endeavour to 
convince me of the truth of this confession, by 
saying, that such are their habits, of intemper- 
ance, perhaps, that whether they accept it or not, 
it would be better for them not to possess proper- 
ty, than otherwise. But, such persons deceive 
themselves. It is not the ]property that would in- 
jure them, but the habits which the vicious system 
of inequality in which they live, has impressed 
upon their feelings. Let these habits be eradica- 
ted, and it will |hen be evident, that the objection 
rests on a foundation which cannot support it. 

In the multitude of objections which will be 
raised against the introduction of the system which 
this work presents to the consideration of my fel- 
low-citizens and others, there will be one like this, 
" The present distribution is good enough ; it is 
"■ better than any other ; inasmuch as it is neces- 
*' sary, even for the poor, that there should be both 
«* rich and poor in society ; and that if it be order- 
*' ed otherwise, the work of society cannot go on, 
*' as prosperously as it does now, and of course, 
" the whole community will be sufferers. That 
'' the evil which we think we are laboring under, 
'' is imaginary ; that our actual and common suf. 
*' ferings will be greater, after the proposed 
'' change than they are now; and that it will be 
"" better, therefore, to leave things as they are now, 
"than it would be to alter them, &c. &c.*' 

Let those who shall make such objection take 
consolation. Although the system I have marked 



216 

out, (See PLAN, Article, 18, p. 143) forbids any 
one to give away his property to another, under 
high and severe penalties ; for reasons which, if 
they are not already apparent, will be made so, 
in the progress of this Work ; yet, the State it- 
self, may, if it pleases, after a General Division 
has been made, consent to accept his patrimony 
from any citizen who shall declare that he feels it 
to be a burthen to him, and an injury to the 
State! If a number of men can be found to do 
the same, such as to be equal to the number of 
men without property now existing among us, 
then there can be no fear but that the State, un- 
der its new organization, can and may derive all 
the advantages which any community can be sup- 
posed to derive, from having in its bosom such a 
numerous class, of poor, dependant, and wretched 
human beings !' It will besides, have this adddi- 
tional advantage ; that, in the case we are suppo- 
$ingf the poor, will be poor of choice ; they will be 
volunteers ; patriots in the cause of their own hap- 
piness, and that of their common country ; and, of 
course, reconciled, contented and happy. If they 
are not so, it will be their own fault. Nor, is it by 
any means impossible for government to be able 
to accept these patrimonies, if they should he so 
offered! Canals, Roads, Bridges, Public Works, 
of every description, will ever be wanted as long 
as the State shall exist ; and these could be car- 
ried to such an extent, as to absorb all that could 
possibly be presented to it, in this way ! If ii 



217 

should turn out, that a sufficient number of men* 
after a General Division had been made, should 
not be of opinion that such a dispossession, by 
themselves, of their own patrimony, would be bene- 
ficial to themselves, and the community ; such as 
to amount to the number mentioned ; it would not 
indeed, piove the doctrine maintained to be false ; 
but it would be evidence, very strong, that its 
correctness was very much to be doubted ! Still, 
however, if a majority should not happen to be on 
the side, of J;hus voluntarily creating an extensive 
class of poor men, and should prefer, as far as 
themselves are concerned, that equality of pro- 
perty should prevail ; whatever the minority 
might be, they could still consult their own views 
and feelings without in the slightest degree being 
opposed by the majority ; and, we should have the 
uncommon phenomenon of a majority and a mi- 
nority, in a republic, agreeing to differ, and still 
acting in perfect acccordance with the views of 
each ! 

Let the rich man, therefore, console himself; fov 
he it is, I presume, if there shall be any one, who 
will object to the equal participation by all in the 
property of the State ; I say, let him console him- 
self that in the new order of thin^rs, he will have 
abundant opportunity, voluntarily to taste the 
sweets of poverty and dependance, if there be any 
such ; and to recommend them to others by his 
own experience. Indeed, it occurs that even now, 
it would be well, among all who shall object, on 

19 



218 

(his account i to the miroduction ot this system, if 
some one would give us an example, in his own 
person, of such an act of self dispossession. 
There is no law to prohibit it ; nor any difficulty 
in finding those who will receive property thus 
tendered to them. Let the rich man, nowj if he 
will, give up his property to some one of his fellow- 
citizens, a poor man I should prefer ; and let them 
both make an experiment ; one to say how much 
of evil there is, at least, in a competence ; and 
the other, how much of good, in entire destitution 
and poverty. Let them do this ; and I engage to 
believe that 07ie of them will not fail to be the 
wiser for it. 

It necessarily follows, that objections of a great 
diversity of character, will present themselves to 
persons of very honest views, as well as others, to 
the proposition to equalize all property in the 
State among its citizens ; and a prominent one, 
among the number will be, that if it be made 
equal to day ; the jack-tar, and the son of the 
richest man in Broadway, will have equal por^ 
tions ; and, that they will both go, in the prodi- 
gality of habits, in which a most pernicious sys- 
tem of government has educated them, and 
squander them forthwith, and thus again reduce 
themselves to poverty. Of what use, then, would 
it be, say a multitude of men, who are more 
ready to look for objections, to any system that 
may be proposed, than to search after remedies, 
though easy to be found; of what use, saythey^ 



219 

would such a division be ? I answer much. Be^ 
sides, the question is asked as if there were not 
immense multitudes- of men, in a community, 
other than the jack-tar, and the gentleman's son 
in Broadway. Is it of no consequence to these, 
that they should have their rights ? Are they not 
to have accorded to them, what belongs to them^ 
what is so necessary to them, their welfare and 
happiness ; merely because the present vicious 
system of holding and transfering property has 
rendered worthless a portion of the low in life, as 
well as the high ? What would be said, now, of a 
proposition, to disinherit all the children of a father, 
merely from the fact, that one of these children 
might be a prodigal and a profligate ? Yet, such 
is the objection that is made to the giving to the 
whole community what belongs to them ; and 
what no man can dispute as belonging to them ; 
merely because it would do no good to" a being, or 
a few beings among them, already ruined by the 
vices of society. There can be no doubt, that it 
is to the influence of these vices, generated by this 
unequal condition of things, in regard to property, 
that we are to attribute the existence of this class 
of heedless and improvident men. For if, on the 
one hand, the system of the rights of property, had 
not been such, as to enable the father to have ob- 
tained an unjust, an overgrown, and more than 
sufficient wealth, he would not have obtained it ; 
and his son, from his earliest years, would have 
been accustomed to rely on his own exertions. 



220 

instead of living on the means acquired by his fa- 
ther, for his present and future support. His 
habits would have been, of a better and a higher 
order, and necessity w^ould have called upon him 
to exercise his own faculties, for his own subsist- 
ance. Other young men of his age, would have 
been in like condition; so, that both the motive and 
the opportunity would have been wanting, which 
are necessary to work that moral ruin, which we 
every day observe in wealthy families. On the 
other hand, an original want of property, in nu- 
merous classes of society, with the consequent 
relation it holds with the other class, has led to 
the formation of the other and opposite descrip- 
tion of character. 

It will not be proper, therefore, to object to an 
equal division of property, on account of some 
persons in the community being unfit to receive it. 
This would be to place the happiness of the 
many upon a contingency of a most extraordinary 
character. The proper course to pursue, is, as 
far as regards those who are not qualified, who 
are decidedly and manifestly not qualified, to take 
proper charge of that which shall be assigned to 
them, to place it in the hands of trustees or 
guardians for their benefit. This is what hap- 
pens every day in many governments as now con- 
stituted ; and it would be equally proper in this. 
It is a remedial operation ; useful to correct po- 
litical vices, already engendered ; and which it 
is better thus to adopt, than to suffer the greater 



221 



«vil which would take place without it. With 
this remark, let us clos e the present diapter, and 
resume the subject in our next. 



CHAPTER vj. 

REASONS 

'Jrt sui^port of a General Division of property, and of tlie 
means pointed out for effecting it ; continued. 

There is no opinion more erroneous, nor perhaps mOre 
generally entertained, than that if you destroy the power of 
making wills and of course of making disposition of estates 
as to the future, you thereby destroy all mcentive to exer- 
tion, or industry. It would be like gathering the wheat 
from the field, it is said, of the farmer who has raised it^ 
and leaving only the stubble. This opinion deserves to be 
deeply investigated ; and when it is, I apprehend it will be 
found full of errors. When put in proper language, it says, 
that a man works for his posterity and not for himself, 
liet us see how this is. I can speak for myself and others 
can judge, from their own bosoms, how far 9712/ feelings 
coincide with their own. I like property because it gives 
me a house in which I am protected from the heat of sum- 
mer, and the cold of winter, and the storms of both f 
where I can receive my friends and accommodate my fami- 
ly.* I like it, because it covers my floors with carpets ; 



* On the principles which thig Work advocates, however, 
these will have thdr rights guaranteed to them as well as 
others. ^ 



222 

gives me looking-glasses and side-boards : because it fur- 
nishes me with chairs and tables ; books and maps and 
papers. I like it because it furnishes me with clothing, 
and with food ; and provides me with the means of prose- 
cuting distant journies on pleasure or business ; and guar- 
antees my return ; because it furnishes the paper I write 
on. and will provide for the means of publishing this Work 
to the world. These, and a thousand other reasons, all 
pointing to my own personal gratification, are those that 
form my attachment to property ; and I can truly say, that 
if I can see, as it regards the future, that all those who are 
to succeed me will have the means to make their own con- 
dition better, than I can make it for them, that I have and 
ought to have, no wish to interfere^ in any arrangement or 
disposition which they may wish to make. It is evident, 
therefore, that I like property^br its own sake ; for the coals 
in places in my grate ; for the roast beef it puts upon my 
table ; for the medicine and comfort it gives me when I am 
sick ; for the carriage it gives me when I do not feel dis- 
posed to walk ; and for the means it afFords in a thousand 
different ways of giving me pleasure, comfort and happi- 
ness, without so much as a thought entering my mind, that 
I entertain this attachment to property, for the benefit j^f 
another. 

If then, there is, as there evidently is, such an innumer- 
able multitude of causes of attachment to property, /or its 
own sake, and causes which must not only exist as long as 
man shall exist, but which will continue to increase as ar- 
tificial wants increase; there can be no danger of a proper 
want of incentive to industry. Besides, when we hear men 
saying that they are gathering wealth, purely for the love 
they bear to their children, are we sure they do not de- 
ceive themselves ? Are we sure they do not mistake, the 
love of property, /or their own sake, for the love oi it, for 



223 

their children's sake ? How does it happen so often, that 
parents retain possession of their property, till very late pe- 
riods of their lives and indeed almost always, untfl they have 
ceased to be ? Surely if we suppose there really is, as 
much attachment to property, among parents, for their 
''children's sake, as is now pretended, we should oftener 
than we do, be witnesses of such parents giving to their 
children a full and sufficient patrimony, at their first setting 
out in Hfe, when, if ever they are to have it, it is capable of 
doing them most good. As it is now, nothing Js more 
common than for a man of fortune to die at the age of 
eighty ; and, then, for the first timCj to give to his children, 
the property he has acquired. The oldest of these, in 
some cases, may then be sixty or near it ; and may have 
raised a family, the youngest of whom may also have a 
family. Of what use is a descent of property m this way, 
at all, if a better system can be devised ? Surely the tena- 
city with which men cling to property ; a tenacity which 
nothing but death itself can conquer, can have but little 
claim to be considered as evidence of any thing but the 
owner's attachment to it, for its own sake, and/<?r his own 
use I ' 

But if all these reflections do not carry conviction, what 
shall be said, when we see, as we do every day, men eager- 
ly pursuing the acquisition of wealth, who never have had 
children, and never expect to have ? The attachment 
they have to it, is not less certainly, than that of any other 
description of people among us. Is it to be said, then, 
there is not in the constitution of things, in man's nature, 
and the circumstances with which he is surrounded, enough 
to stimulate his industry to the proper degree of activity ? 

But let us proceed a step further. It is still insisted, 
that this attachment to property i^ , so intense, in all cases^ 
not so much because its possessor may desire to give it 



224 

particularly to children, but because he may say who the 
future owner shall be. I have already shown, as I think, 
that the true cause of this attachment is to be found in the 
individual man himself, in the adaptation of property to the 
gratification of his own wants, and is due to no othei' 
source. But, by way of illustration, I might show, that 
it is likewise true, that if I were a traveller (and obliged to* 
be so from stern necessity) in some foreign country, and 
knew, that in some period of my travels, I knew not when, 
I should be attacked by robbbers and ordered to dispos- 
sess myself, of all my treasures, with ike permission how- 
every of saying to whom they might belong thence forward 
forever J that, here, I should stand, precisely m the situation 
of a man who is acquiring property, knowing that he is 
yet to die, at some uncertain and unknown period. The 
mere circumstance, of my having permission to say to 
whom these treasures shall belong, when the time arrives 
for me to surrender them up, would not, of itself, be a 
sufficient inducement to amass these treasures ; if I did 
amass them, there must have been some other motive. 
Thus, why should I toil for years and years; to obtain 
these treasures, when all that I have to do, is, not to amass 
them; but to meet the robbers without any. Thus is it 
the case with the dying man. If he has amassed trea- 
sures, during his life-time, he has done it, not for the pur- 
pose of having it in his power to say who shall have them 
when he must give ihem up, when death approaches him 
as the supposed robber does me, and orders him to sur- 
render ail ; first naming his legatees ; but, because they 
were valuable to him in his life-time ; because the period 
of his death was uncertain ; because he had fears of being 
dispossessed, in whole or in part, by incidents over which 
he might have no control, before he should die ; and be- 
cause all these circumstances created a habit of being te 



225 , 

nacious ofproperty, which time rendered more inveterate 
and confirmed. If any thing' further, were wanting to shew 
the singleness of purpose, with which the acquisition of 
property is pursued, it may be found in the fact, that 
many persons, towards the close of life, are known, great- 
ly to hesitate in their choice of heirs ; particularly thoSe 
who have no children, and who, therefore, find it difficult 
to please themselves, in their selection. 

It is to be said for the honor of human nature, that 
there are abundance of instances, in which parents have 
given to their offspring, as well as to otherss property with 
which to commence their career m life ; if it had not been 
so, the dark side of the human character, would have been 
darker yet. That such parents have had their cares aug- 
mented by the wish to bestow something on their children 
in the morning of their lives, is no doubt true ; but, it is 
not equally true, that had some other person, the Stale, 
-for example, made the same provision for them, that they 
were able to make, that their industry, would have been 
less. Their cares and anxieties, for their own welfare, 
no doubt would have been ; but their industry would have 
received a fresh impetus, by the increase of power they 
would have felt, to have, added to their enjoyments, by 
new gratificatiofts. It is not to be expected then ; it is 
not in the nature of things, that man shall cease to have a 
love, a very strong love ofproperty. That it is possible to 
be carried -to excess is certainly true ; and the proof is, that 
men, in order to possess themselves of it, are guilty, in the 
present state of things, of the greatest crimes and enormi- 
ties, although those who are guilty of them, are often alrea-= 
dy in the possession of great quantities of it ; and would 
therefore, seem to have very little to offer in paUiation of 
their conduct. 

But let us grant, for a moment j that a dying man, has 



226 

obtained the property he has bequeathed to some succes-- 
sor, solely, or even chiefly for the benefit of him who re- 
ceives it. What is the bequest intended to accomplish ? 
Treasures, it may be, have been lavished upon the succes- 
sor in question ; yet it is possible, that he may receive 
them all, and have them subject to any disposition he may 
order ; and still, not derive from them the benefits which 
the legator and legatee both may have expected. Sup- 
pose the legacy to consist, of houses in cities, lands in the 
country, fitted and prepared for cultivation, and money. 
Strike now, out of existence, all the poor men, all those 
who labor, and by their labor support the human race ; 
and then let me ask, where is the value of the legacy ? 
Where would be Lorillard's hundreds of houses ? With- 
out men, and poor men, too, to come and occupy them, 
(for rich men have their own houses), where would be the 
rents, that he now draws from them ? Of what use would 
the farms be, with no one to hire them, and pay the hire 
required for their use ? Where would be found borrowers 
to pay interest on the money ? The truth is, when Loril- 
lard shall die, and leave a legatee with his vast possessions ; 
at the same time that he shall will away, his houses, and 
his lands, his money, his snuff and his tobacco ;* he will 
will moay^ also, hundreds and thousands of poor men along 
with them, to make them valuable to his successor ; other- 
wise they will not be valuable in the way in which they are 
intended to be ; for they are intended to enable their poS' 
sessor to live on the labor of others; and those others, of 
course, must be those who have little or no property. Let 
the poor man look at this operation of things ; let him un- 
derstand, that every generation of proprietors, wills away 



* It is proper to say to those who may not know it ; that thi- 
{gentleman is a large and respectable tobacconist, in this city 



every generation of the poor, like so many cattle ; and 
that under the existing order of things, there is no 
more possibility of avoiding this salej or rather transfer of 
their bodies, as it truly is, than there is for the slave at the 
South, to escape being sold on the plantation of his master, 
if he shall so order ! 

But if the transfer of property to successors, by way of 
will, as it evidently is, is attended with such effects; how 
glaringly erroneous will appear the common and prevail- 
ing idea, that parents employ their industry for the future 
support of their children ? If, indeed, it could be said, 
with truth, that any parent, provides for his children, for 
example, as many breakfasts, dinners, and suppers, as they 
may need during their lives ; if such parent provides for 
them, as many hats, shoes, and other garments, as they 
may require ; if he supplies them with houses, furniture, 
fuel, and every thing else, that their animal and intellectu- 
al wants may demand ; and all these out of his own per- 
gonal labors ; then, it might truly be said, that he had 
supplied the future necessities of his children. But, if he 
has not done this ; if he has only left behind him an 
estate, (and left it, certainly, for the same reason that a 
traveller leaves the road behind him, because he cannot 
take it with him), then he has not supplied the future wants 
of his children. They must, either uork for themselves, 
and supply their own wants, out of their own labor ; or the 
poor who live at the same period with them, must do it 
for them, ]f the estate is large, the children who inherit, 
do not labor for themselves ; they compel the poor, who 
exist at the time, and in their vicinity, to support them, 
while they themselves do nothing. When men therefore^ 
say they seek to supply the wants, the future wants of their 
Children, they deceive themselves. All the fathers of any 
generation, under the present order of things, may be con- 



228 

sidered as engaged in a struggle, not to supply the wants, 
the future wants, each of his own children, out of the labor 
of such parents ; but to compel the children of some of 
these fathers, (and it happens to be a great majority of 
them), to labor for and supply the wants of the others, 
while these last riot in idleness and luxury. Let me re* 
peat, then : it is not the rich father, that supplies his chil- 
dren's wants ; it is not the children themselves, who supply 
their own wants ; but it is the poor children of other fathers 
around them who do it ; it is none else ; and they do it 
for the single reason, that they are deprived of their just 
and equal share of property. It follows, of course, from 
these remarks, thai the parental feeling, by which many 
parents attempt to justify and even commend themselves 
for pro vidmg property for their children, as the system now 
is, is far from being amiable or laudable ; on the contrary, 
that it is culpable and criminal, and rather resembles the 
propensity of those birds of prey, who feed their young 
upon the young of other birds, whom they are able to make 
victims, than any thing which the mind of justice or bene- 
volence is able to look upon with pleasure. Jt is thus, 
that vultures feed their young ; and it is thus also, that 
rich parents provide for their children. Let the poor, 
who feel as tenderly for their offspring as do any others, 
look at this operation of things, and prepare to put a stop 
to it. 

If such then, be the operation of wills ; if they are able 
to convey away vast quantities of property, and with it vast 
masses of people, the latter of which it certainly cannot be 
pretended is the property of any one, much less of testa- 
tors ; is it not time to question the validity of wills, even 
on principles which are acknowledged by those who desire 
to preserve their existence among us ? Is it not time for 
the people; those who have rights as well as the rich, to 
interpose in their-own behalf? 



229 ^ 

Besides> on the score of policy, in order to encourag^' 
the augmentation of wealth by the testator, it is and has 
been urged as necessary and useful, to allow of the willing 
away property, to such successor as he might think proper 
to name. On the score of the same good pplicy, (I say 
nothing of right now), would it not be quite as beneficial, 
in the way of stimulating the augmentation of riches, of en- 
couraging industry, so to order affairs, that vast bodies of 
men, should have SQtne property, to begin life with; as it is 
to leave them, as we do now, without any thing? Would 
not a few millions, such as Lorillard's estate for example, 
distributed among a few thousand men, at their first setting 
out in life, be productive under iAeir management, of more 
wealth, than if the same were given into the possession, 
perhaps, of a single man ? This is a question which I do 
not expect the rich to hear with pleasure, or to answer 
with candor ; but the men of toil, the million who prepare 
the feast, but never taste it, will find an answer in their 
own bosoms whicJi need not be to]d to any one, to be 
known. 

It is easy to enlarge, and to multiply arguments in favor 
of the policy even, of giving, in addition to the benefit? of 
a good edtication, a patrimony, and that an equal one too, 
to every individual on arriving at the age of maturity. 
Those who object to it, on the ground that it would tend 
to make men indolent, and improvident of their future wel- 
fare, seem not to be aware, if the ground oftljeir objection 
be true, that they prove too i^uch. They are in the situa- 
tion of the sophist, who declared *' there was no such thing 
as truth in the world ;" and, to whom a by-stander replied; 
" Then, Sir, your assertion is not true ; for, if it be, there 
is, at least, one truth among men." If the giving of pro- 
perty, be it little or much, to those who are entering the 
stage of mature life, is to be considered as visiting the evil 

20 



230 

of indolence and laziness, upon those who receive it, and 
}S, on that account, to be objected to ; so, also, must we 
object to property being given to any human being what- 
ever, whether it be by our present system of wills, or other- 
wise. Now, to say, that no onCt ought to have any pro- 
perty at all, by way of bequest, or gift, from any source 
whatever, is proving too much ; and more I apprehend, 
than those who fancy they see evil in giving to all an 
equal amount of property on arriving at the age of maturity, 
have any wish to prove. 

Besides, how doubly absurd, does it not appear, to fAi- 
ject, to a moderate and equal share of property being 
given to each person at the age before mentioned, on ac- 
count of its inducing indolence; and still, at the same 
moment, to contend for the giving of immense estates, as 
is now done by way of will ? If, by a system of equality, 
the giving three or four, or five thousand dollars, to indi- 
viduals generally, is to be objected to, as creating idleness 
and laziness ; how much more, ought we to object, as the 
system now is, to giving three, or four, or five millions ? 
Those who oppose the equal system, which it is my plea- 
sure to support in this Work, and every where else ; ou'ght 
to take care in the first place, that their facts be true : 
and in the second, that being true, they do not do more 
injury to themselves, than to those whom they attempt to 
assail. I apprehend my readers will agree with me, in 
the present instance, that these facts are not true ; and 
that if they were, they would be of no avail, inasmuch as 
by proving too much, they prove nothing at all. And 
such, I imagine, is the condition, in which all men must 
invariably find themselves, who oppose the doctrine of C- 
quality ; of equality in property, as well as in every thing 

else. 

Men who contend for the descent of property to thenest 



23i 

generation, in the way in which it now descends ; and ob- 
ject to its descending equally to all, as I desire, on the 
ground of its tendency to promote indolence, seem to con- 
sider mankind as consisting of two distinct species of be- 
ings; one of slaves, whose duty it is to toil, but having a 
very j[rreat aversion to it ; and the other, of despots, to 
whom it belongs to use the lash, and thus coerce their fel- 
low-beings to perform it. 

They seem to forget, that most of the indolence, now 
existing among mankind (the effect which labor-saving- 
machmery has to destroy employment, and thus^orce men 
to be idle, excepted), is the indolence of despair and dis- 
couragement, on the one hand ; and, on the other, that of 
ease and indulgence, springing from enormous fortunes, ac- 
quired without labor, and possessed without right ; and 
that if these two causes of indolence, were banished, by 
the introduction of a system of equal pr perty, indolence 
itself would be banished also. All would then labor for 
the gratification of their wants ; and this gratification 
would then be, as it truly is, the true, and only genial and 
healthful stimulus of industry. 

I have already observed that if the State, for example, 
had bestowed patrimonies upon the children of certain 
supposed families ; it would have relieved the cares of the 
parents of those children, to a very great and beneficial 
extent ; and that, their industry would have received, in 
consequence of such relief, an augmentation of its exercise, 
by being at hberty to direct itself to the acquisition of the 
means of new gratifications. There is little doubt, that 
the present inveterate attachment to the exercise of the 
rights of the testator, as they are called, owes its origin, 
principally to its being made use of, as an instrument of 
conveying property to children. Had it ever been the 
ease, that a State had given a patrimony, and, an equal 



23^ 

one too, to every person in it, on his cominij to the age of 
maturity, it is altogether probable that men would have 
ceased to have any attachment to wills whatever. It is to 
bo said, indeed, tjjat it would never have been known. It 
should be understood, th.it to the term will, I affix a signi- 
fication, which, direct or implied, controls the disposition 
of property which a man has died possessed of, in manner 
knpwn, or supposed to be agreeable to his wishes. Thus, 
although a man, technically speaking, may die without a 
will, yet, it'thc Legislature order his property, by a general 
or any other law, to be divided equally among his children, 
ornext of kin, it presumes what his will would have been, 
and supplies the omission. 

But let us look a little at the obstacles which go to pre- 
vent the execution of wills, however beneficial they may 
be said to be. A man, it is said, acquires property for his 
children, and gives it to them by way of will. How far is 
this true ? there is no doubt he may intend it. But let us 
hear what the facts are His will may be made, and de- 
posited in the care of a friend, perhaps, in whom he h^^s 
confidence, and wiio does not deceive it. Still it may be 
lost or destroyed by some casualty or accident ; where, 
then, is the will of the testator ? It is a nullity. It has no 
legal existence. It is the same thing as if it had never 
been made. In another instance, the t reachery of another 
(supposed) friend, to whom another will may have been 
committed, puts it out of the way altogether. Here again 
is another violation of will, as eflectual as if it had never 
been made. Let the dying man, if you please, fearing to 
trust his will out of his own house, order it to be deposi- 
ted in his bureau. How often, when death has sealed his 
eyes, has such will been committed to the flames. If the 
destiny, the good or ill fortune of heirs, is made to depend 
on an occurrence of this kind, how precarious and uncer- 



2^3 

tain may we not consider it ? Again — where it has been 
supposed that no will has been made, how often has ^ 
happened that a counterfeit one has made its appearance, 
clothed m all the legal formalities, and has carried away 
the estate of the deceased ? Besides, let us suppose the 
genuine will to be preserved, and to become known to the 
administrators of the laws. Yei the debts of the deceased 
must be paid ? Most certainly. Well, then, in court here 
come witnesses, as many as are necessary, and make 
oath, false oath, it is true, but which, however, no one has 
it in his power to prove to be false ; and swear that they 
saw him, for example, sign or mdorse a prornisory note, to 
a great amount ; judgment is rendered, in consequence of 
this testimony, and away goes the estate, out of the chil- 
dren's hands. But let us pursue the matter still further. 
Admit the estate to be realized. It must come, of course, 
into the hands of the executor. What if he should fail in 
his duty ? Would not the estate pass from the heirs ? No, 
it is said, if bis surety were available. That might happen 
not to be the case. Moreover, himself and the executor 
might act in collusion. And then who could evade the 
consequence ? Like other men, they could if they pleased, 
be guilty of fraudulent insolvency ; or increase the number 
of absconding debtors. In any of all these numerous con- 
tingencies happening, and more might have been named, 
what becomes of the testator's designs ? Where is the se- 
curity of the heir ? What dying man can say he has la- 
bored for his children ? If they do not get his property, he 
certainly has not labored for them. He has labored for 
some one else, and he will not know for whom. 

On the ground, then, that it is impossible, in a very 
great many cases, to fulfil the inteh'ions of the deceased, 
il will be advantageous to look for a better system. For 
ahhough it may be said, that in a great majority of install- 

20* 



234. 

ces, estates descend in the way in which their former pos- 
sessors desire them, yet there are not wanting many in- 
stan6es of a contrary description. And these are pregnant 
with great evils to those who are affected by them. They 
are too well understood and felt, to need any elucidation. 
To place numerous families without resources of property 
of any kind, into a world which seems to be governed al- 
most altogether by one ruling principle, avarice, is calami- 
- ty too much to be contemplated with indifference. But 
such calamity is no greater to him who has had an estate 
intended to have been given to him, and who did not suc- 
ceed in obtaining it, than to him who is possessed of no- 
thing, because he had no parent or legator able or willing 
to give him property. 

Inasmuch as I am now speaking of the policy of wills 
altogether, separate from any consideration of thern as 
being consistent or otherwise with tl^e equal rights of all ; 
it is not out of place to look at their moral action, in a- 
nother point of view. Who does not know the insincere 
course of conduct, which the expectation of possessing 
property through the medium of wills, generates in those 
who have a right to indulge in such expectations ? Do we 
not know, that, particularly the latter part of any one's 
life, who has properly to any considerable amount, to give 
away by will, is assailed by every species of flattery, fraud, 
and cunning? And when the unhappy man is about to re- 
sign his life, who does not recognize, around his death-bed, 
a scene, very much resembling the hovering of carrion,- 
crows over a dying horse, wishing every moment to be his 
-last, in order that they may feast themselves on what re- 
mains after death has done its work ? It would be no 
small service rendered to our race, if such a disgusting and 
revolting moral nuisance were eradicated from all human 
society. 



235 

Nor is this death-bed scene of immorality that which is 
the most offensive to every feehng of purity and virtue, of' 
all those which the exercise of the power of making a will 
presents ta our view. How often do parents in possession 
of property, while living, employ it as the instrument of the 
ipost revolting tyranny"? How often is the son, under the 
fear of being disinherited, compelled to comply with the 
unjust and iniquitous de«ires of the father ? How often is 
the happiness of the daughter sacrificed, by being compell- 
ed to marry a man, whom her parents order her to marry, 
but whom she regards with indifference, and often with 
disgust ? And what, in such a case, does the exercise, by 
the father, of this power of making a will, produce, but the 
legalized prostitution of his daughter ? Yet this is what 
happens almost daily ; and mer^ have not seen how this 
great demoralizing agent is to be exterminated from all 
human society ; nor even thought, except in lew instances, 
that a power producing such effects, must necessarily be 
one which has no just right to exist ; since no man will 
pretend that he ought to have the power to prostitute his 
own daughter ; thougii such is tiiC power he actually holds 
in his hands, under the present order of things. 

In my third chapter I have abundantly shewn, I think, 
that man cannot own property after he ceases to be ; nor 
give direction who shall own, to the exclusion of another ; 
or how it shall be disposed of; that to allow of such dispo- 
sition, would be to interfere with the rights of the living, 
at a future day ; and therefore is not to be tolerated, any 
more than any similar injustice is allowed to be practised 
with impunity, in a society of individuals now Hving. For 
justice is as much to be practised to those who are absent 
as to those who are present ; to those who are on distant 
journies, as to those who are at home ; to those who have 
not yet arrived on the stage of existence, as to those who 



236 

have. It does not take its character from the wishes of 
any man, or of any generation of men, from any period of 
time, past, present or to come. It is eternal and un- 
changeable, and operates, if it operate at all, for the equal 
benefit of all. But, notwithstanding all this.is self-evident- 
ly true ; although every human heart ; as well his, who 
feels tyrant-propensities, a&. he who sutlers the anguish they 
occasion, acknowledges their truth ; still does there lurk a 
wish in the heart of him, who is now wealthy, to extend 
his monopoly beyond the grave ; and although he cannot 
see that it is right, at all, for him to will away the materials 
of the world, so to speak ; to throw, for example, if he had 
the power, the plantation on which he has once lived, into 
the middle of the Pacific Ocean, there to be sunk in the 
fathomless deep, or to commit any similar annihilation of 
property; yet he feels " one longing, lingering" wish, that the 
labors of his life, the result of his yearly toils, those produc- 
tions of his personal exertions, should be at his disposal. 
Strange man ! If such be your wish, if you are so inhuman 
as to desire, when you are about to slumber in the dust, as to 
make a preference, (for that is all that remains in your 
power) among those to whom you would give your labors, 
when the Creator has made them all equal, and knows no 
difference among them ; show me which and what are youF 
personal labors, and how your wish can be accomplished, 
and you shall be gratified. If you have made for yourself 
a bow, from materials obtained in the forest — go, and re- 
place that material as you found it ; and if you can possess 
yourself of the labor, and the labor only, which you em- 
ployed in its manufacture, go and bestow it upon whom 
you please. If you have made yourself a pipe, in which 
to smoke your tobacco — go and restore the clay of which 
it was made, to its original place and condition as you 
found it ; and, if you can possess yourself of the labor you 



237 

expended in its fabrication, give it in welcome to yoiir 
successor. If you have written the Iliad, go and restore 
to their original condition, the materials of the paper, ink, 
&c. which were essential to its existence among mankind ; 
then, if you can detach the labors you employed in its com- 
position, from all connection with physical existence, my 
sensorium or another's, give them in welcome to whomso- 
ever you will. If you have niade a ship, replace the mate- 
rials, of which it is made, in situations and conditions as 
you found them, and if you can lay your hand upon the la* 
bor} upon the industry you employed its construction, do so, 
and give it as you will. But, touch not material I Take 
only labor, skill and fancy ! All else belongs to the suc- 
ceeding generation. Even the materials of your own body, 
the moment that animation has departed, belong to them^ 
and not to you. They can, as they have ever done, mak§ 
such disposition thereof, as to them shall seem fit. 

Say not to me, that you will exchange some of all your 
vast amount of labor, for our materials. We will not con- 
sent. We will make no treaty with you. For what could 
labor do? All that you have ever exercised, and all that 
the whole human race have exercised, since their existence, 
are not competent to the formation of a grain of sand. 
If, then, you cannct give us the equivalent, even for the 
very smallest fraction of a grain of sand, why should we 
allow you to bestow it away ? Besides, it is only ours dur- 
ing the period of our existence ; when it will belong to our 
successors, who will talk to us, as now we talk to you. 

Besides, is it not altogether possible, that you have re- 
ceived the benefit of the labors of a preceding generation, 
from ten thousand sources, fully equal in amount, to that 
which you now so reluctantly transmit to the generation 
which is to succeed you ? Are you not in fact a debtor ? 
Are you not, indeed, a very ^reat debtor ? Have you not 



238 

had of enjoyment, yourself, a hundred, nay a thousand, or 
ten thousand times more than you could have had if pre- 
ceding generations (and that without any regard to those 
of your kindred among them) had not left their labors be- 
hind them ? And is not this, of itself, a sufficient reason 
for you to wave your pretensions altogether ? One would 
surely think it was. 

But let us make another investigation : — Some one 
will say, as many have often said, *' this is my property ; 
" I have made it by my industry ; it is the work of my 
" own hands ; therefore is it mine, to will away, as 
'* well as for any and every other purpose." If it be his, 
Ids it isy beyond all dispute ; and his shall it remain, 
for any thing that I will do to dispossess him. But let us 
inquire. Let us ascertain, when a man boasts how much 
he has done in his life time, by his own industry/ ; I say, let 
us ascertainybr ourselves^ how much, after all, it may hap- 
pen to be. Over-estimates are a very common thing ; and 
happen as often among rich boasters, as any where else. 

Let us take the supposition that Lorillard shall give his 
five hundred houses, and other property to some single 
legatee. If he manage them with prudence, with industry , 
I suppose he would say ; inasmuch as principal at five per 
cent, per annum (whether it comes in the shape of rent or 
interest is all the same) doubles itself in a little more than 
fourteen years ; let it even be fifteen ; his houses would be 
doubled in number in that time ; and in fifteen years more, 
they would be doubled again. So that in thirty years from 
the time at which the legatee came into possession, he 
would actually have fifteen hundred houses more than 
Lorillard left him, making an increase of fifty houses a year! 
Is it now to be said that this annual increase is the labor, 
is the industry of one man ? Is it to be said that he has 
performed the equivalent of so much work ? Would these 



239 

houses have been built, or their equivalent in labor per- 
formed on something else , by this legatee, (who in the 
mean time has not Hfted his hand), if, at the time, he 
received his legacy, all the poor, who perform the labor 
that supports the whole human race, had been struck out 
of existence ? Do not these same poor men see, that they 
are the slaves of this vast possessor of property ? Do they 
not see, that their fathers have been slaves to his predeces- 
sor? Do they not see, that their children, if this state of 
things is to continue, will be slaves to his successor or 
successors ? Do they not see, that they will be required 
to build for them, in the next thirty years, 6,000 houses 
more ! which, under a new order of things, they 
would build for themselves, or employ its equivalent in 
something else ? And for what is all this ? What par- 
ticular service to mankind, does Lorillard, or Lorillard's 
successors, or any man's successors, render more than 
themselves ? Is the work of creation to be let out on hire ? 
And, are the great mass of mankind to be hirelings to 
those who undertake to set up a claim, as government is 
now constructed, that tlie world was made for them ? 
Why not sell the winds of heaven, that man might not 
breathe without price ? Why not sell the light of the sun, 
that a man should not see, without making another rich ? 
Why not appropriate the ocean, that man should not find 
space for his existence, without paying his fellow-being for 
it ? Ail these things could be done if it were practicable, 
with as much propriety, as the present exclusive and eter- 
nal appropriation is made, of the land and all that belongs 
to it. 

Mankind have enquired too little after their rights, their 
interests, and their happiness. If it had not been so, such 
enormities could not have been allowed to take place, dai- 
ly and forever before our eyes, without having been reme- 



240 * ^ 

died. They could not have been plunged into such deep 
distress and degradation as we now see them. The high 
and the lofty, those who have become so, from the inevit- 
able operation of causes, which they did not bring into 
being ; and which neither they have had, nor could have 
had the power to control ; would have been tumbled from 
their elevations, and seated on a level with their fellow- 
beings. Then would they have enjoyed their equal 
chance of acquiring property ; for then, would they have 
had only their equal share of it, to begin with ; and with 
this, they could have had only their proper opportunity to 
employ their industry and talents ; others would have been 
in the same enviable situation ; and no one would then be 
found, in such necessitous condition, that he must work 
or die ; and work, too, on such termSy that a very great 
ihare of the value of his labor must go to the employer, or 
to him, who, no matter liow, affords the means of employ- 
ment! 

It is not long since a member of the Common Council 
of this city, I do not now recollect his name, and on some 
occasion of which I do not remember exactly the nature, 
indulged in a strain of feeling and invective against the 
poor, which brought forcibly to my mind, a tragic affair of 
the French Revolution. In the origin of this affair, a very 
wealthy citizen of Paris, was guilty of saying, in an exas- 
perated tone of feeling, that the people were no better 
than horses, and ought to be fed on hay ; or words to that 
effect ; the consequence was, that the populace became 
exasperated in their turn, by the barbarity of the expres- 
sion ; they seized him, cut his head off; stuck it on a 
pole ; filled his mouth full of hay ; and paraded through 
the streets, in revenge for the unfeeling manner in which 
Iheir victim had spoken of their rights and their happiness. 

On the occasion to which I have alluded, the honor- 



24i 

able member launched out into some intemperate expres- 
sions against those, whose lot, as society is now modelled, 
it is to perform THE LABOR THAT SUPPORTS 
US ALL ; such as this, " that he who would not work 
ought to starve." There is no occasion to question the 
general truth of the observation ; but the barbarous 
feeling with which, it struck me, it was uttered, could not 
fail to raise my indignation. I could not but resent it in 
the name of my fellow-beings, as an insult to that class who 
now perform all the work that is done in our support, as 
well of the honorable member, as of all others, implying an 
unwillingness to work, which there is no kind of propriety 
^n laying to their charge. But it implied also more. It 
implied, that it is right enough for a certain description of 
men, among us, to live without labor of their own ; while 
others are called upon to labor, not only enough to support 
themselves, but to support also, these DRONES in the 
hive into the bargain. It is the object of this Work, to 
inquire why these things should be. Why is it, that men, 
at our Hall, or elsewhere, should not be called upon to 
perform the labor that supports them, as well as other men ? 
If a man will not work, why should he not starve ? This 
is a question which may well be asked, if it is intended to 
mean, that all men, shall be called upon to work ahke; and 
to depend solely upon the labor of their own hands, and 
draw nothing frbm the labor of others, but what they are 
wiUing to pay for with an equal return in labor of their own 
hands, I agree to it. It is an object which I wish to see 
accomplished. And it will be the object of every man,' 
who has not been corrupted by the sweets of another's la- 
bor. Let all our legislation square with this principle ; 
and there will then be no occasion to suffer large estates 
to descend to particular persons ; for these it is, (and it is 
nothing else) which enables them to live on the labor of 

21 



S42 

others ; nor on the other hand, to maintain an order of 
things, the result of which is, to leave an immense portion 
of our population without property of any kind whatever, 
in the utmost misery and wretchedness. 

But the honorable member, there is every reason to be- 
lieve did not contemplate so general an application of his 
maxim. But, why should he not ? Is it not quite as 
reasonable for a poor man to eat a good dinner, without 
having labored to earn it, as for a rich man to do it ? Is 
there a difference in rights ? Is there one sort of rights for 
one class of men, and another for another ? May one do 
lawfully what the other will do criminally ; have we two 
codes of law among us ? Have we a law for the Lillipu- 
tians, and another for the Brobdingnaggians ? We have 
been told, in the Declaration of Independence, that " all 
men are created equal ;" but if one man must work for 
his dinner, and another need not, and does not, how are 
we equal ? If the gentleman shall say, the rich man has 
property, and the poor man has not ; then the question is 
only changed for another ; what is his right to such pro- 
perty ? 

If it should turn out, that he has no better right than he 
whom now he callg poor, and on whom he casts his in- 
sults ; it would at least compel him to make his applica- 
tion of his maxim, more general, I presume, than he had 
intended to make it. 

In order, therefore, to ascertain the poor man's rights, 
or the rich man's either, we must go back to the first for- 
mation of government. When we have done so; when we 
have ascended to the first era of society; where do we find 
our poor man ? Where do we find our rich one ? They 
are no where to he seen. Everything is in common at 
this period- No man can call this tree his, or that the 
other's. No man can say this field is mine; or that is 
yours. Field there is none. All is one wide common. 



243 

unapproprkte to any. How they did appropriate, when 
they resolved to divide among them, that which equally be- 
longed to all, we may not know at present. But, how 
they ought to have divided, we know full well. It is en- 
graved on the heart of man, and there is no power, while 
he lives and has his faculties, that can efface the engrav- 
ing. That heart tells him, what it tells every man now 
who has one ; that he has an equal right with any and 
every other man, to an equal share of the common pro- 
perty ; or its undoubted equivalent. That heart tells him, 
that if, previous to any time, the soil, the common proper- 
ty of all has been pre-occupied by others, it is his right to 
demand an equivalent ; or, as the only alternative left him, 
to enter by force, if necessary, into the possession of that 
which belongs equally to him, as to another. That heart 
tells every citizen of this State, or of any other Slate, that 
he,.too,has the same inalienable right to his portion of the 
property of the State. That heart tells him, that if those 
who have first occupied this property, have done it in such 
a manner, as to shut him out, of his equal original right ; 
and have not given him his equivalent, in heu thereof, it is 
his right, and those who are in the same condition with 
him, to combine their exertions to produce such an ar- 
rangement, and division of the State, as will be able, even 
at this late, or at any later day, when they shall possess 
themselves of power enough to do so; to secure to them- 
selves the enjoyment of their own equal portion. That 
heart tells him, that no length of time which oppression 
may have endured, can legalize its existence : and that 
the day of its death has come, when moral and physical 
power enough is found to exist to be able to destroy it. 

How, then, if the present people of the State of New- 
York, had now for the first time, met on its soil, and were 
about to make appropriation of what they found here, how 



244 

would they proceed ? If their knowledge and experience 
convinced them, that the system of private and exclusive 
properly, in every thing, or nearly so ; and consequent 
upon this system, the system of one pursuing one occupa- 
tion and another anoiher ; and so on through the whole 
circle of occupations ; was better adapted to promote their 
comfort and happiness, than any other ; because, the sum 
total of the effects of their industry would be greater in 
this way, than in any other ; would they not, then, be 
likely to pursue such systems ? Would they not divide the 
State as nearly equal as possible ? Would they give to 
one man a territory, equal to the county of Rensselaer; to 
another a territory equal to the county of Putnam; and 
to a thousand, or ten thousand others, none at all, or any 
equivalent ? Would the thousand or ten thousand, if they 
understood their" rights, sanction such a division as this ? 
Would they not overthrow it in an instant ? And if, two 
hundred years ago, such an appropriation, or a similar one 
was made, shall it not be overthrown now ? Shall it not 
be put out of existence now, and every thing, as it regards 
equality, be placed in the same condition as if it had never 
been ? Is the error, is the injustice of such a distribution 
of the soil and property of the State, to receive our sanction 
because it has existed two centuries ? 

Well, if the people of thfi present day, upon the suppo- 
sition I have made, that they were now, for the first time 
met upon its soil, would not sanction or authorize such an 
unequal distribution of property ; ought they to be called 
upon to sanction it now ? Ought they to be called upon, 
and besought to forbear, and not to break it up ? Whose 
benefit is that, which calls upon the people any longer to 
tolerate such an injustice ? Is it the benefit of the people 
themselves ? Is it the benefit of their children, and their 
children's children to the latest generation ? Or is it the 
benefit of the single individual among ten thousand ? If^ 



246 . 

then, the people, by altering this condition of things, can 
yet make all things equal, and consistent with the original 
rights of all ; and can, among others, make the same pro- 
vision for him of the ten thousand ; ought it not to be done ? 
Who is to gainsay ? No man, nor even any majority of 
men have, or ever have had, or ever can have any right to 
destroy the equality of rights, or to sufer it to he de^roy- 
ed. It belongs, inalienably belongs, to each individual of 
the universe, even though every other individual in the 
same universe, should oppose its admission or acknowl- 
edgement. It is not in the moral power of numbers to say, 
it shall not be. 

Let it not be said, that because the soil of the State has 
undergone a vast change in its value, by the progress of 
improvements; by the labors of art and industry, which for 
two hundred years, have not failed, in the possession of 
the present and former owners to be bestowed upon it ; 
that therefore division ought not now to be made. Whose 
were these labors ? Were they those of the proprietors ? 
Were they those of the rich man ? On the contrary, were 
they not those of multitudes of men, who had, as good a 
right to the soil they cultivated for another, as that other 
himself? Were they not those of the ancestors, of the 
fathers and grandfathers, of the present generation of poor 
men ? Were they not those whose bones now sleep in 
dust along with those who never labored at all ? What 
right, then, has the rich man of the present day, to retain 
possession of the result of the labor of their lives, and \o 
deny it to their children ? What right has the rich man of 
the present day, to hold by inheritance from his ancestor, 
the labors of a previous generation, when even the ancestor 
himself had no kind of just title to it ? If there is any one 
principle, among all the principles which prevail in govera- 
ments organized as they now are, which can be allowed to 

21* 



. 246 

have an operation here ; it is, that the children of these 
sons of toil, have, at least, an equal title to the labors of 
their ancestors, with that of the son of him who never la- 
bored at all; who lived on the labor of others ; and who, 
if it be yet said, as it may sometimes be, with truth, that 
he did labor as much as the poorest man living, could 
certainly claim for his son, no more than an equal share of 
all these improvements, of all these productions of art and 
industry. 

Nor let the man of toil ; the man of no possessions ; for- 
get to understand himself. Let him not believe that there 
is aught of value or of worth in man, save such as he and 
his kindred producers, bring forth to mankind. Let him 
not forget, that all these improvements ; all these produc- 
tions of art and industry; the surviving fruits of the labor of 
his ancestors, are now actually less, than they would have 
been, if rich men had never existed. For every dollar paid 
to them by way o^ interest ; by way of rent for houses and 
lands ; by way o^ profit in trade or manufactures, over and 
above the same return which poor men receive for similar 
service in superintendance ; is so much for idleness to sub- 
sist upon. Let him not fail to see, that the Grand Canal 
would have been made at less labor furnished by the class 
of men to which he belongs, but for the existence among 
us, of what are called, men of fortune. For the labor on 
which these have subsisted, and that, too, which they have 
wasted, has been drawn from those whose rights I am 
vindicating ; and this labor might as well have been given 
to the Canal, as to have been given where it was. It 
would have been better. For all that is given to support 
the rich, (or the poor either) who by their labor, might be 
able, if they had the opportunity, or were compelled to it 
by necessity arising from the operation of equal laws, to 
support themselves, is so much thrown into the sea. Let 



247 

US look then upon the rich man, as he has been, or as he 
now is, among^ us, rather as a curse, than as a blessing* 
rather as a something, himself, which it is proper to exter- 
minate, than to allow him to arise in the midst of us, and 
say, *'The changes you design to make, shall not be 
made.'* Nor let the word exterminate, be thought a harsh 
one. Both rich and poor ought to he exterminated : the 
latter by being made what we may call rich ; and the for- 
mer by being brought to the common level. 

If, then, the soil, in its present cultivated state, as well 
as in the condition in which it comes to us, from the hand 
of its Creator ; with all the results of the toil, skill and in- 
dustry of the present and former generations, as well as 
when none of these existed — belong t6 the present people 
of the State of New York — what is the disposition, which 
they may and ought to make of it ? 

That it would be an equal division in the first instance, 
no man will doubt. For if he did doubt it, if he did believe 
that it would be unequal ; and further, if he could believe 
that himself cou\d have the larger portion ; he would not 
object. If, therefore, any man objects to a division, it is 
because he expects after a division is made, to possess less 
than he possesses now. It is not in the nature of things, 
that he should object on any other ground. Whoever, 
therefore, does object to a division, npt only desires to have 
that which is truly his own, by just and equal right, but 
that of his fellows — a hundred ; a thousand, or ten thou- 
sand in number, in addition thereto. But these, when they 
understand their rights ; when they see clearly what be- 
longs to them, as much as the same in amount belongs to 
another, are not to be prevented from possessing it, by any 
thing which can be done by any human agency. 

The division, therefore, beyond all question would be 
equal. At least it would approach as near to it, as it 



248 

would be in the powei of the communiiy to make it. I 
am not to be understood as meaning any thing by equality, 
other than that the value of the effects of our citizens, 
whether it be lands, or ships, or goods, or whatever else it 
may be, would be apportioned equally among us all. And 
if it were not exactly equal ; if it varied from equality, say 
by five, or ten, or fifty dollars in a thousand, it would be 
because, under present circumstances, or perhaps under 
any, a division mathematically equal, cannot be made. 
But it is not necessary. It is sufficient that it be substan- 
tially so. And this it can be without any difficulty, arising 
in executing such division, whatever. 

But, after this equal division'be made, how is it to be 
perpetuated ? How is it to be maintained ? How is it to be 
preserved, at least so far, as to allow wealth, in any man's 
hands, to accumulate no faster, than his greater talents, 
strength, ingenuity, indu&try or economy, will enable him ? 
So far as these qualities are possessed by any man, they 
ought not to be denied having their full scope. But at the 
same time, they are not to receive impetus, from having 
the opportunity of operating upon the destitution of ano- 
ther. Wealth is not to be allowed to augment its trea- 
sures, by making treaties of profit with poverty and misfor- 
tune. Care, then, is to be taken that such poverty and 
misfortune shall have no existence. 

The question, then, arises, how is this to be done? 
Divide the State equally to-day ; and all will be equal for 
the moment. But if you give to any of these equal pos- 
sessors the power to consider that which they have re- 
ceived, as being theirs to the end of time, what will not 
happen ? Suppose these possessors to be, all fathers ; 
to have an equal duration of life ; to have an equal num- 
ber of children, who shall be supposed to have an equal 
duration of life also ; to- have equal talents, strength, inge- 



nuity, industry and economy ; still under all these circuiii" 
stances, property would soon become vastly and enor- 
mously unequal. And why ? Because each of these pos- 
sessors ; if he have the power to the end of timCf dis Iha.\e 
supposed him to have, of disposing of that which is now 
his, could and would will it away unequally. He would 
entertain, such is every day the fact among us now, an- 
tipathies to, or less partiality for, one of hiscildren, than he 
would for another. He would bestow his property accord- 
ingly. To him, whom he disliked, (wisely or unwisely, it 
is no matter) he would give nothing. He, therefore, 
would be the first of a race, and ultimately of a very nu- 
merous race of poor men ; of unfortunate human beings ; 
without resources of property; and, therefore, dependent ;, 
even for their very existence, upon the pleasure, the ca- 
price, the tyranny, or the folly of others, who, no better 
than themselves, had yet the better fortune to be the favor- 
ites of some former possessor of property, now slumbering 
in the dust. To him whom he liked less than another, he 
would give little, and he would be the father of another 
race, who would be more or less of tyrants, or more or less 
of slaves, and dependant beings, as the property their an- 
cestor should receive at the hands of his father should be 
of greater or smaller amount. To the most esteemed, he 
would givo all, or nearly sill j and here, then, would be the 
source from which inequality would spring, and continue 
to grow, never to be repressed, as long as present circum- 
stances continued. This possessor would be in the situa- 
tionsuch as now we behold the rich to be. If it pleases 
any one to say so, let it be said, that with his greater 
talents, strength, ingenuity and economy, he goes forward 
in the career of life, to add to his already great possessions ; 
yet it is not on these alone, that he depends for making 
acquisitions thereto. No ; it is on the still better j the stiji. 



250 

more productive resource which he finds he is in possession 
of. in the destitution, in the absolute want of every thing., 
in which he finds a vast mass of men around him. It is on 
this destitution ; it is on this want ; it is on this poverty^ 
that he brings his personal qualities, and his hereditary 
possessions to bear, with a most appalling energy. And 
without such destitution ; without such vast bodies of men 
around him who are obliged to make a treaty with him, as it 
were ybr their lives ; what would he do with his greater 
talents, strength, industry, ingenuity and economy, about 
which he and others,* talk so much, and talk so much in 
vain? Would they avail him, to obtain those vast aug- 
mentations to his estate, which it is now so easy to ac- 
complish ? Most certainly not. How alarmingly hostile 
then, to human happiness, in the case before us, does not 
the power of wills appear to be ? And yet worse than this 
happens every day ; inasmuch as legators often dispossess 
their families entirely, and give to those who already have 
other testators to give thiem more. 

It would no doubt, abate, in some measure, the evils 
growing out of the existence of the power of making wills, 
if they were required to be made so as to divide all property 
of the father, among his children, equally. But, as all 
families do not have the same number of children, and 
some none at all ; and if they even were to have the same 
number, still they do not live to come to the age of matu- 
rity ; so if, in the new disposition of things, the property of 
the fathers went to tlie children, even on the principles of 
equality, still a most enormous disproportion would soon en- 
sue. One father, may have, it may be said, a fortune equal 
to another, and indeed, in this respect, in the division of the 

* See Raymond's Political Economy, Vol, ii. pp, 12 and 
1«J 



'^K 



25: 



State which I propose to make ; all families would be e^ 
qual ; yet, one will have twelve children ; another, ten ; 
another, eight ; another^^ six ; four ; two ; and one, and 
some even none at all. ""Where, under circumstances like 
these, should we find our system of equality, in a short 
time, if we were to allow the power of wills to come in at 
all, even though it required all the property of the testator, 
to be apportioned equally among his children ? The fa- 
ther of one child would give him all his property ; and the 
father of ten or twelve children would give them all his> 
But the child of the former father, would thereby possess, 
ten or twelve times as much as any one of the children 
of the latter father. Would this be right ? Would this be 
consistent with the purpose all should have in view, of 
mamtaining that equality, which the rights of every man 
require ? But the inequality, thus supposed to be genera- 
ted, does not stop here. It may be, that the son who re- 
ceives ten or twelve times as much as others of his fellow- 
beings of the same age, may also, have one son only ; and 
when the father dies, he would be required to leave his 
.property to him, with all the acquisitions he had made to it, 
and that too, under extremely favorable circumstances for 
making those acquisitions. But, on the other hand, these 
ten or twelve children of one and the same father, might 
also, be the fathers of ten or twelve children more each ; 
and this second generation of children ; 100 or 144, as the 
case may be; would have only so much property, z/ even 
that remained, as is now in possession of a single individ- 
ual of another parentage. And every generation would 
see the evil increasing in aggravation and enormity. Nor 
to the mischievous operation thus placed in review before 
us ; is any thing attributed to the effect which would be 
produced, by the will of him, who has no children to whom 
to leave his property. If, as such things have happened. 



252 

he should give to those who already have more than they 
ought to have, the evil would be greatly heightened ; and 
this is an event, judging from the past history of mankind, 
which is more Hkely to happen, than the contrary and 
more desirable and reasonable disposition. 

But, we itiust injustice to our subject, take back ano- 
ther supposition. All fathers cannot have the same term 
of existence. They cannot be supposed, then, to have the 
same opportunities of acquiring property, for their chil- 
dren, admitting for a moment, what is very absurd indeed, 
that these children are to look to their parents, as such, for 
their future means of existence, or comfort, or happiness. 
Here, then, is another fruitful source of inequality of pro- 
perty, to be added to the foregoing. There needs evidently, 
some other principle than this, on which to found the ope- 
ration of transferring property from one generation to ano- 
ther. 

Once more I am to say, that the ground I have taken by 
supposition, is not borne out by facts. All men, in any 
one age, cannot be supposed to have the same talents, 
strength, industry, ingenuity, or economy ; and, for this 
reason alone, it would not be possible, for every father to 
be able to leave an equal amount of property to his chil- 
dren, allowing every other circumstance to be as equal as 
Ivhave made it by my suppositions. Is it to be said then, 
that the child's right to property, is to depend on the per- 
sonal quality or qualities of the father ? I am aware ; I 
know too well, indeed ; that every argument that the 
imagination of man can conjure up, has been, and will bft 
resorted to, to defend the miserable system at present pre- 
vaihng, in the transmission of property from one genera- 
tion to another. And I regret extremely, to observe the 
talents of a writer, so respectable as Mr. Raymond, so 
perverted, as to be employed in supporting a principle. 



l^OO 



wiiich would go to no less a length than that 6f declaring 
that the immortal Newton should never have had, by any 
acknowledgment which his government should have made^ 
the right, even to the material of so much paper, as would 
have been necessary to communicate to the world his 
Principia, if his father had happened to have been an idiot, 
and in consequence of such idiocy, had been incapable of 
obtaining property for him. I am not to be repulsed from 
the truth of this declaration, by any other declaration ; 
such as, that Newton could have negotiated for the paper 
for himself. For Newton either did, or did not own, in 
his own person, as derived from his supposed father, 
enough of something wherewith to purchase. If he did 
not so own it, and the fact so happened, because of his fa- 
ther's supposed idiocy ; then I repeat, that he has nothing 
wherewith to purchase ; for, although he might offer his 
personal services ; those who possess the world, and, of 
course, the materials of which paper is made, could say 
to him ; "we want them not ; we will not negotiate ; you 
*' cannot have the material ; we have monopolized it our- 
" selves ; and the government we have placed over us, has 
" so ordered it, that nothing shall be taken from us, but by 
*' our consent ; and this we do not think fit to give ; you 
" must, therefore, remain without the paper you so much 
^^ desire." 

Such without number, are the absurdities, which great 
men as well as others must encounter, when they leave 
out of viev/, or have never found, the true sources of our 
rights. 

But there is yet another exception to our list of suppo- 
sitions. Although to day, property should be made equal 
among us all who are of the age of maturity ; and, al- 
though an additional supposition were made, that no mor-a 
persons were to come among us ; and, that we were to 

22 



,264 

continue forever in the possession of what is now assigned 
equally, as we think, to each of us ; still, we should soon 
discover sources of inequahty springing up among us, In 
what would these consist ? To-day when division is made, 
a mine of the precious or other metals, which, ever to this 
time, has been productive and profitable, is given to some 
one or more, as his or their equal portion. In a month 
or so afterwards, it fails to be productive of as much pro- 
fit as heretofore ; and, finally ceases to be of any value at 
all. On the other hand; on the property of another ; 
where, at the time, when division was made, there was not 
known, or suspected to be any such mine, in a month or 
so* afterwards, it may be, discovery of it is made. Here 
then are two sources of inequality ; the one acting to de»" 
press, the other to exalt the condition of the respective 
proprietors. And, it is easy to imagine a multitude of 
sources, of a similar character in kind and degree. To be 
prepared to meet all these, to-be-expected occurrences is 
a part of the duty of those, who shall be prevailed upon to 
attempt to give to man in soci<?ity, the rights which belong 
to him, in a state of nature, or in lieu thereof, his un- 
doubted equivalent. 

Amidst all these sources of inequality, it may appear, 
that we might, without subjecting ourselves to any unwor- 
thy imputations, set ourselves down in despair ; and con- 
clude that nothing was to be done. For, of what use would 
it be, to provide for an equal division of property, if it 
could not be perpetuated, from age to age, from genera- 
tion to generation, without breaking in upon the operations 
of the living ? To make a general division now ; and 
then to be obliged to make another in a month, or a twelve- 
month, or even in a life-time : in order to preserve the 
same equality of rights, in our social as in our natural ex- 
istence, is an evil of no ordinary magnitude. But, 



255 , ' , ■ 

Jiappily it is not necessary. The reader will have seen, 
long before he has proceeded to this extent, in the peru- 
sal of this work, the means by which it is to be accom- 
plished, ft has been necessary however, for me to pursue 
the discussion of this subject, in the way in which I have 
done it ; not so much to recommend the utility of the me- 
thods to be pursued in giving to man his rights in question, 
as to remove the train of falsely founded ideas with which 
he may be impressed, and which owe their origin to his con- 
templations of society, and of man in society, such as he 
has ever found them. 

It is necessary ; because it presents the only means of 
giving to every one now living, and who is of and over the 
age of maturity, his equal share of all the property of this 
State, of whatever kind it may be ; that a General Divi- 
sion of the whole of it, should take place in the first in- 
stance. But, it will never be necessary again, to disturlr 
the operations of the living ; by interrupting the plans of 
life, which each individual has marked out for himself. 
Nor would it have been necessary now, if two hundred 
years ago, or at any period subsequent to that, and ante- 
rior to this, all men had been placed in possession of their 
rights. But, as they were not ; as they still continue to be 
held in the possession of others ; it is right ; it is proper ; 
it is requisite, in duty to those who have to this time, been 
despoiled of what is their own ; to wrest it from those who 
now detain it from them. It is time, now, that each 
should begin to live for his own happiness, and to draw on 
his own resources for its promotion. It is time, now, 
that he should begin to live for himself; and, not like a 
slave as he truly is, for the benefit of another. As every 
man's share of the property of the State, is essential to his 
pursuit of such happiness; it is right for him, and for all 
who like him, are in a similar situation, to rise, in the 



256 

majesty of their right, and claim at tliehanus of man, that 
which he holds by title from the Creator. Nor, is it to be 
objected, that it would produce all the evils of a general 
bankruptcy. There is no doubt, that all those vast pro- 
prietors, whom to pull down to the just level of their fel- 
low-citizens, is the prime object of this work, will feel it, 
indeed, to be very much like bankruptcy to them; but, it 
will be very far from deserving that character after all. 
For, they will have assigned to them, if they will have itso,- 
as much of the effects of the Bankruptcy as any of their 
fellow- citizens. And, are they to set up a hue-and-cry, 
that, having ahvays had more, they cdnnot continue to have 
it still ? Besides, I am willing to suppose them for a mo- 
ment, for argument's sake, to be utterly reduced : reduced 
to the possession of nothing ; is it by any means, an un- 
common occurrence ? Every day, do we not see instances 
of great wealth- lost to the possessor in tofo, and himself 
and family reduced to extreme need ? And yet, this ex- 
cites very little commiseration any where ; not so muchy 
indeetlj as it should. What propriety, then, would there 
be, in any man's resisting his own reduction to the com- 
mon level ? After that, if he can ascend above his fellow- 
citizens, by virtue of his superior enterprise, industry and 
other commendable quahties, he will be welcome to do so. 
But I am anticipating myself. I said it would not be 
necessary, ever again, after the proposed first General Di- 
vision, to have another. The remedy against the neces- 
sity for its occurrence a second time, is natural and easy. 
Let there be no wills. It has already been shown ; that 
they do not exist, of right ; that they originated in wrong 
and usurpation ; and that they contravene the rights of the 
succeeding generation. When we appear on the stage oi* 
existence, we are ourselves, the posterity of those wht- 
iiave ironc before us. In our turn u'C shall be the ances. 



257 

tors of those who are to come after us. In the first in- 
stance, it is to our interest, that our ancestors should have 
been just to us. -It is but justice in us, that we practice 
the same rule of right to those who shall succeed us. Let 
then, each generation manage its own affairs, without 
being interfered with by those who have gone before it ; 
and without interfering, itself, with those, who are to come 
after it. This is genuine justice ; this is true policy. 
Let this 6^ resolved on, and all is easy to accomplish. 

Wills, then, are destroyed, they eiiist no more to curse 
the earth with calamities. Let the dead rest in peftce ; 
and be suffei ed no longer to disturb the living. Let a dai- 
ly register be kept of them, as they depart from among us. 
Every day^ if you please, let the property of those, through- 
out the State, who shall die on that day^ be assigned to 
those, also throughout the State, who shall on the same 
day, arrive at the age of maturity ; let it be divided equally 
among them all, male and female, and given to them as 
their patrimony forever. 

Thus will it be easy to cause a perpetual and imper- 
ceptible transmission of the property of the State into the 
hands, (and equally too) of the succeeding generation. 
Every person will take that course of life that suits him 
best ; pursue it undisturbed, till he shall choose to change 
it for himself, or till he shall have lived out the term of his 
existence. When he dies, he knows not who his succes- 
sor or successors are to be ; but this is of little consequence 
to him. If he shall think it accords better with the dictates 
of nature and reason, or either, that he should feel more so- 
licitous for the welfare of his ou??i children, than for those of 
others, although the Creator has made all equal ; it will 
be sufficient for him, that his children are provided for, by 
the State, from the effects of deceased persons, forty years, 
it may bC; before the expiration of his own existence ; thsEt 

22* 



258 

they have their patrimony in the morning of their livesr,' 
without distressing or disturbing him for a dollar of it ; and 
pursue their course rejoicing ; that, even his grand-chil- 
dren, will or may have similar provision made for them- 
also, in the same way, before his race is run. How 
much more consoling to him must such a system appear ; 
than that which calls upon him, either to see two or three 
generations waiting for his death^ in order that they may 
have wherewith to provide for their welfare ; or to see 
himself compelled to give up, during his own life-time, for 
the satisfaction of their wants, what he may feel to be es- 
sential to his own. How much more agreeable to his feel- 
ings, than the present wretched system, whereby, he may 
be stripped, through calamity, or viJlany, of all that he has, 
and thus have it in his power to give to his children no- 
thing ? Whereas, under the system which it is my happi- 
ness to propose, nothing of this sort can happen ; and 
consequently, his and all children, on coming to the age oi 
maturity, will have provision made for them, of which no- 
thing can deprive them . 

It is probable, that these enlightened and humane con- 
sideratipns may fail to have their full weight on the minds 
of some rich proprietors ; but, w ith how much propriety 
may not the government address them ; " you are rich, it, 
''' is true, to-day ; but, you have no assurance that you will 
" be rich to-morrow : we order you, therefore, to submit 
'' to the introduction of the system in question ; that the 
*' future happiness of your children, may not be dependent 
*' on any contingency whatever, which may befal you. Your 
" offspring have rights, which we will cause you to re- 
'■• spect, and which we will not suffer you. either, to vio' 
*' late yourselves, or to place in situations, in which they 
''maybe exposed to the danger of violation by others. 
*' We will take care that thev shall be sure to have an equal 



V 

'■ and reasonable amount of property, at the commence^ 

'' ment of the mature part of their livesj rather than to be 

^' made dependant on any one, possibly for a greater sum^ 

" at a more unsuitable period of life ; with a probabilityj 

" that they may never receive it at all." Reasons like 

these, are such as a whole people have a righi to address 

to those, who shall oppose that humane and equitable sys-^ 

tem, which seeks to provide for the happiness of alL And 

such, too, is the language, which the children of the 

wealthy, if they understand their oum true interests, will 

wish to see addressed to their parents. 

Such, in substance, is the plan'proposed to be made use 

of, to supersede all wills, by means of which, property 

may daily transmit itself to the approaching generation. 

Literally, however, to fulfil it, would not agree with that 

strict and equal justice, which is attainable, by a trifling 

modification. It appears, from registers kept of deaths in 

our different cities and elsewhere, that they do not happen 

so nearly uniform, one day with another, as might at 

first thought be imagined. I have not now at hand 

any work of the kind to refer to, other than a printed 

" Statement of deaths, with the diseases and ages, in the 

" City, and Liberties of Philadelphia from the first of Jan. 

*' 1828, to first of Jan, 1829;" from which it appears^ 

ihat the deaths of Adult persons 

During the Spring months, were 449 

'« Summer do. - - 492 

" Autumnal do. - - 587 

'« Winter do. - - 487 

The average being 504. 

So that, if we suppose the births of children to be uni- 
formly equal in number, one day with another, throughout 
the year, the patrimonies would be as the numbers above 5 
that is, children born in the Spring months, on arriving at 



260 

the age of maturity, would receive, say 449 ; those born 
in the Summer months, would receive 492 ; those born in 
the Autumnal months would receive 587 ; and those born 
in the Winter months 487 : the highest being in Autumn, 
and the lowest in Spring ; the former being more than 
30 p. cent above the latter ; a difference quite too great to 
be admitted to have place, when we can so easily find the 
means to remedy it. And as to the particular months in 
those seasons^ the foregoing statement adds, that the 
greatest number of Adults died in September, the smallest 
number in May. So that the diflference would be,/o?' 
tliose two months^ even yet wider. 

But, it does not happen, as supposed, that the hirths are 
equal, one day with another throughout the year. The 
variation is considerable. I have no means near me, of 
ascertaining numbers in this respect; but, " Observations 
" made in several countries, concur in determining the 
" months of December and January, to be those in which 
" the greatest number of children are born."* This cir- 
cumstance, therefore, will have its influence, in rendering 
patrimonies still more unequal than is already shown. I 
apprehend that they might differ so much, as that one 
should be double that of anotlier. This would be an un- 
pardonable difference ; when, by simply directing all the 
estates of persons dying within any one year, to be divided 
among all those who should arrive at age, during the same 
year, {or during the succeeding year would he the same in 
imnciple), the whole difficulty would be removed, and that 
with every practical advantage that could be desired ; 
thus preserving all the beauty of principle, which is visible 
in the daily division above mentioned. Article 12, of the 
PLAN page 141, is predicated on these facts, respecting 
births and deaths. 



' Maltc Britn's Geography, Book 22, p. 196, 



2oi 

With respect to any difference in the actual value of the 
'shares, arising to each person at the first General Division 
or in the patrimonies afterwards, alluded to already in some 
previous remarks, as being a source of creating inequality^ 
after such division had been made, or such patrimonies 
given ; it is to be observed, that under any plan of division 
that can be devised, it cannot fail to have some effect , 
but it is to be observed also, that the evil continually cor- 
rects itself during every generation ; for, he who should 
find a silver mine on his farm, after it was assigned to him, 
which was not known to be there before, could only enjoy 
its advantages during his own life time ; when it would re- 
vert to the State ; and, be again offered for sale, under 
such known circumstances, as would ensure the production 
of its worth. Nor, could it be said that by selling it before 
death, this could be evaded ; for, if it were so sold, by the 
owner, and sold for its actual worth ; in that case, this 
actual worth, must necessarily be forth-coming to the 
State at the time of his death. If it were a collusive sale, 
for less than its worth ; then it becom'es a criminal 
transaction in both parties ; and subjects both to punish- 
ment under the 18th article, wherein it is prohibited to 
give property to another : the propriety of which prohibi- 
tion, if not already evident, will be made so, as further ad- 
vances are made towards the completion of this Work. 

But, another subject presents itself. We have said al- 
ready, that when children arrive at the age of maturity, 
they are to receive their patrimonies. An apprentice- 
having spent the requisite time of his minority in qualify- 
ing himself, for the future supply of his own wants, and the 
pursuit of his own liappiness ; instead of going into the 
workshop of a man employing perhaps, a hundred work- 
men, as a journeyman ; and surrendering a very great pro- 
portion of the value of his labor ; takes his own share of 



262 

property, and goes in as proprietor, a joint proprietor with 
them, receiving out of the joint avails of their operations of 
labor, trade &c. his equal and proper share, according 
to such rules and regulations as they may make among 
themselves. But, what is to be done for children before 
they arrive at maturity ? 

Article 16. (See PLAN, p. 143), provides that *' all 
" native born citizens, from the period of their birth, to 
'* that of their maturity, shall receive from the State, a 
" sum, paid in monthly or other more convenient in- 
'' stalments, equal to their full and decent maintenance, 
*' and support, according to age and condition ; and the 
'* parent, or parents, if living, and not rendered unsuitable, 
" by incapacity or vicious habits, to bring up their chil- 
*' dren, shall be the persons authorized to receive it. 
*' Otherwise, guardians must be appointed to take care of 
" such children ; and to receive their maintenanceallow- 
" ance. They are to be educated also at the public expense,' ' 

Governments, as we have heretofore seen them organ- 
ized, having made little or no provision for securing the 
rights of the coming generation, have, as it were, imposed 
it upon the sympathy of parents, to make provision, (the 
best they could) , for their offspring ; and from this circum- 
stance, more than from any natural impulse, which they 
feel as parents, they have been induced to believe, that 
the duty of bringing up their own children, was peculiarly 
incumbent on them, rather than upon others, who stood in 
no relation of consanguinity. But, why do we feel more 
particular attachments to acquaintances than we do to 
strangers? Not because there is natural reason for it, 
further than that by some, and almost always, by many 
associations, their presence or recollection, gives us plea- 
sure. Why do we prefer a countryman to him who is of 
another nation 1 Not, certainly, because he is a better 



263 

man ; or more worthy of our esteem or affection. So 
510 w, if I am induced to lend my friend, or to assist my 
countryman, rather than others ; is it to be said, that I do 
it from a natural impulse; and, that if I do not do the 
same, for the man who is not my acquaintance, or my 
countryman, that still I act according^ to the dictates of 
nature ? Let me be assured that this stranger, that this 
foreigner, stand in the sanie need for the assistance which 
I have extended, and would be as greatly benefitted by it ; 
then, if I am called upon to say, why I should not as rea^ 
dily render it in one case as in the other ; what can I say, 
but that there is no reason whatever, to make any distinc- 
tion ? If there be any, why I do, rather than why I ought, 
it is this ; that 1 myself, may feel more pleasure from ex- 
tending the relief in question, to the acquaintance and 
^countryman, than to the stranger, in consequence of some 
association of ideas, agreeable to me, which do not accom- 
pany the same transaction as applied to the latter. 

But, it will still be contended, by those who have not 
considered the subject, as much as it ought to be, that pa- 
rents are the natural guardians and protectors of their 
children ; and, that the duty of providing for their wants, 
devolves solely on them as parents^ in contradistinction, to 
iheit duty as citizens. But, how is this made to appear? 
If such be the fact ; if it be true, that a child ought to look 
to its parents for support, and to no one else ; then, ought 
not nature to suffer a parent to die ; at least, until all his 
children are raised to the age of maturity. And further, 
he ought not to fall sick ; for, in this case, the child may 
fail of that support, which is necessary to the preservation 
of its existence. Again, the parent ought not tobe vi- 
sited by calamity of any other description ; nor be cir- 
cumvented by the designing, and robbed of any, or all that 
he has. In any of these contingencies happening, what 



264 

would become of the resource of the child ? Shall that 
be called a natural resource, which is thus inevitably at 
the mercy of so many uncontrollable agents ; and, more 
especially, shall we say so, when we can point to one, 
which cannot fail in any event whatever ? 

But, we may go farther. How is it to be said, that a 
parent is the natural resource of the child ? If that parent 
be disqualified by vices and had personal habits, is he the 
natural guardian of such child ? If it be so, then lias not 
nature done its duty ; and art must supply its place. 

But the true theory to be laid down in this matter, is this ; 
The child, and every child, as soon as it is born, is co-pro- 
prietor--with all citizens, in the property of the State. It is 
not, it is true, at this period of its existence, capable of 
entering into possession of its rights of property ; but it 
nevertheless has them. They belong to it, and are not to 
be taken away from it, without the perpetration of the 
grossest act of tyranny. Why, then, should those who 
have no children, contribute, their equal share to the rais- 
ing of the new generation, with those who have ? Because 
they have the property of these children in possession, and 
enjoy the use of it. This is one reason, and it is the same, 
in effect, as that which obtains, now, where a father dies, 
leaving minor heirs. These latter have a right to support 
from the estate ; and, to their equal proportion afterwards, 
if an unreasonable father, through the exercise of the 
power of the will, have not ordered otherwise. But, there 
are other reasons. Those who have arrived at maturity, 
have not done so, without being in debt to a generation 
which has gone before them. This debt they must dis- 
charge, by rendering payment to the generation which 
comes after them. If I, as an individual, have no children 
myself; I have, nevertheless, received in infancy, that aid 
and assistance, which has conducted me to manhood. I 



265 

jiiust, tli^refure, make return to those, to whom only it is 
in my power. Besides, if a new genera^on were not to 
come up ; what would become of me in my second infan- 
cy ; in my old age ? There would be none to lend me 
help. There would be none to comfort my last illness, 
or to close my eyes in death. I am to hebenefitted, there- 
fore, in the existence of the new race, which is coming 
forward. I ought, then, to contribute to their subsistence 
and support ; none the less, because I may not be the pa- 
rent of any of these ; but, my full and equal proportion, 
because they will bestow on me benefactions, as great as 
on any one else. Taxes, therefore, will be necessary to 
create a State fund, out of which, the maintenance and 
education of the ascending generation is to be afforded ', 
and I, and every other man, will be properly called upon 
to pay in proportion ; not to the number of my children, 
but to the amount of my property. 

Nor, are these all the advantages, which all enjoy at the 
hands of the rising generation. The greater our numbers 
are, the stronger we are for the public defence. The 
faster we increase, the sooner are great and beneficial 
public works undertaken and executed. If population, 
had been greatly more retarded than it has been, in this 
State, we might not have had the Great Erie-Canal, for 
one hundred years to come. In almost every way, that 
the mind of man can conceive, is an increase ofpopulation, 
beneficial, and beneficial to all ; and more especially will 
it be so, wherever, there shall be an equal, or nearly 
equal possession of property among the citizens. Even 
my very letters cost me less, in the postage I pay on them, 
when I am one of a milhon, than when I am one of a 
thousand. There is reason, therefore, in ^Ae^e considera- 
tions, why all should contribute to support the approach- 
ing generation. 

■^23 



'26G 

Thus far is it evident, that the duty of raising the new 
generation, devaives upon all equally ; and for the plain- 
est of all reasons ; that all are to partake equally of the be- 
nefits they will confer upon us, as they arrive at maturity. 
It would be obviously unjust, therefore, to impose this duty 
upon parents only ; for, this would be no less than to cre- 
ate a new source of inequality of property among the citi- 
zens ; inasmuch, as by requiring more from some than 
from others, in the rearing the new race, we should mani- 
festly, levy greater contributions on this man, than on that ; 
though all equally would enjoy the benefits of the objects 
to which the contributions were appropriated. This, 
therefore, is an additionzl consideration, in support of 
bringing up children, at the public expense ; though, in 
the care, in almost all instances, however, of their parents. 
At stated periods ; perhaps, at the periods of payment, 
all these children must be presented to the proper Autho- 
rity, to verify the fact of their continued existence, and re- 
sidence among us. Or any other means may be taken 
that shall seem more judicious. Register will be kept of 
the date, and place of their birth, parentage, &c. (and deatlv, 
also, whenever it shall happen, interment being made at 
the public expense) ; so that all who shall arrive at the 
age of maturity, may know where to look for the proof of 
their age and of the place of nativity ; and so that the go- 
vernment also, may have knowledge of those, who, and 
the time when, they are entitled to receive patrimonies. 

Under the best form of government, which the faculties 
of man, at any time, and under any circumstances may be 
able to create, there is likely to be more or less of calamity 
falling upon individuals, which it will not be able to foresee 
or prevent. As each and every citizen, is therefore, e- 
qually exposed to those casualties, contingencies and acci- 
cidents, by which he may be reduced to necessitous cir- 



267 

<;umstances, requiring assistance from those of the com 
munity, who may happen to have the good fortune to be 
exempt from them , it is altogether reasonable and proper, 
that these last should affurd the assistance in question. 
They are the proper authority to judge of the existence of 
the necessity that calls upon them for help, and the pro- 
per body to give it. Under equal liability to meet with 
misfortunes as we all are ; it is manifestly proper that we 
should all stand ready, through tlie organ of our govern^ 
ment, to assist the unfortunate ; and nothing can be far- 
ther from the spirit of equal and exact justice, than to call 
upon, or allow the children, for example, to support un- 
fortunate parents ; or parents, on the other hand, to be 
burthened, or burthen themselves, with the support of un- 
fortunate children. More generous and just than this, the 
government, in fact, should say to tho parent, " It is 
" we who will, and whose duty it is, to provide tor your 
" children ; we will not leave the burthen on you.*' And 
to the children it should say ; " The misfortunes of your 
'• parents, must not fall as a calamity on you ; it is for us 
" to alleviate them, since we are altogether more able than 
" you are to do so, and since, also, it is our duty. We 
^' cannot, therefore, suffer jou to assist your parents, but 
" as members of the community. You will, therefore, ab» 
*' stain from gifts in any and every form whatever ; not 
" only, because it belongs exclusively to the community 
" to assist the unfortunate ; but, because, if gifts by pri- 
'* vate citizens, were not forbidden, it would open a door, 
" through which posterity might be defrauded out of their 
** rights of property ; since, whatever is given by an indi- 
" vidual to another, is, or may be, so much robbed of the 
'• next generation ; inasmuch, as he who gives, will have 
•' so much the less to leave behind him, when he dies, as 
- he may have given to another." These observations 



2C8 

•explain*' and enforce, the necessity and propriety of Ar- 
ticle 18, p. 143. * 

It may not be amiss to add, that in a community, which 
shall have been based upon the equal principles of this, or 
any similar work ; men will respect the claims of misfor- 
tune, with a feeling of humanity which belongs to our na- 
ture as truly benevolent beings ; but, with shame be it said, 
contrary to what happens in human society as now con- 
stituted. Support, therefore, to the victims of misfortune, 
will be rendered, in the new order of things, upon princi- 
ples, and with feehngs, and with a liberality, which will 
leave no one any occasion to regret, that such support 
is rendered by the public, rather than by a private hand. 
Neither parents, children, or others, will be able to say 
that they could, if permitted, have done better for those 
who require help ; and, they will therefore feel no con- 
straint, that they can no longer make gifts, since there will 
be no longer any occasion for their use. 

Article 20. (See PLAxN, p. 144,) is as follows :— 
•' Property being thus continually, and equally divided 
" forever, and the receivers of such property, embarking 
'•' in all the various pursuits and occupations of hfe ; these 
"occupations must be guarantied against injury from fo- 
'' reign competition ; or otherwise, indemnity should be 
" made by the State." . 

It is possible the reader may ask, what application a pro- 
vision of this kind, can possibly have, in a system which 
professes to be made to suit the necessities of a single 
State ; since any such State, of itself, by the connection 
it has with the Union, can have no power to give it a prac- 
tical existence ? 

The answer is easy. The principles contained in this 
Work, are either well founded, or they are not ; they are 
well suited to our condition, as human beings, desirous to 



269 

make the most of our means of happiness, or they are not 
they are either exhibited in a plain and comprehensible man. 
ner, so that the people, with proper allowance of time and ^ 
circumstance, can easily understand them, or they are not. 
If, then, they are compatible with man's nature, and his 
rights ; and if they are comprehensible by the people ; 
such people will feel them to be essential to their own hap- 
piness ; and will not fail to order them to be put into execu- 
tion ; and no power will be found able to prevent it. 

But, if the people of this State, shall thus be enabled to 
investigate, and understand this system ; and, after under- 
standing it, shall be prevailed upon by the causes mention- 
ed to adopt it; so, also, will the adjacent States; and, 
more especially those, whose population, in the freedom of 
their character, closely resembles that of our own. To 
all the free States particularly, will the principles of this 
Work extend, if they shall be found to be of any value to 
this. The extension of instruction, is now so general 
throughout the Union, that, if it be acceptable here, it is 
likely to be acceptable elsewhere ; and particularly so, 
where the evil of slavery does not exist. And, even in 
the slave-holding States ; the rights of the poor white 
man, in opposition to what are now considered as the 
fights of the rich white man, will not fail to be demanded 
and defended by the former, whenever this Work shall 
find its way to their understandings They, as well as we, 
in our own State, will not fail to make inquiry, why it is, 
that one white man is better than another ; why he should 
possess more houses, or lands, or negroes, than another ; 
why wills are not as unjust there, as in other places ? 
And, if no satisfactory answer can be given to the poor 
white man of the South, by his rich brother ; what is to 
hinder him and his associates from doing as we can and 
may do here : that is, making a General Division of all 

23* 



270 

property of the State wherein he lives, and taking the ne- 
cessary measures to transmit it equally to posterity ? 

I go even further. I even believe that if it were possi- 
ble, in any short lime, for the poor white man of the Soutli 
to renounce his prejudices against the slaves and to admit 
that it is no more consistent with right, that the slaves 
should be subservient to him, than it is for the poor 
white man, to be subservient to the rich one ; that even 
the slaves, themselves, might at once be admitted to an 
equal participation with themselves. Those who have 
been at the'South, know, that among the slaves, there are 
many, who would not willingly take their freedom, if it 
were given to them ; and, for this reason ; inasmuch, a& 
they would have no property ; they, therefore, think they 
could not support themselves. Such is the habit, which 
slavery has impressed upon their feelings, that they think 
they would fail of subsistence, if they had not a master ! 
But, if, with freedom, they were presented with lands, and 
other property also ; wherewith to obtain subsistence ; 
the case would be very different ; and, nothing could in- 
tervene to create dissension or disturbance ; if the whites 
could prevail on their own feelings not to envy and oppose, 
this easy and natural method of extinguishing slavery, and 
its ten thousand attendant evils. To say that the whites 
are not capable of labor, would be no less than to say, 
that nature had made a mistake in creating them ; by giv- 
ing them wants in abundance, without the means of sup- 
plying them ; and, would be just as true, as it would be, 
for our rich white man of the North, to say that he, too, 
could not labor ; and, therefore, must have white men to 
labor for him, in every respect as good as himself! 

Under present circumstances, however, I think, that 
such an event is impossible. But, 1 imagine, that it is 
very far from being impossible, that the poor white man of 



271 

the South, may demand his rights of his rich brother. 
The day of inquiry into rights, is yet in its morning ; and, 
men having once awakened to search them out will not cease 
their labors till they have found them. They will not lay 
down to slumber on their pillows, till they possess them 
in full and secure enjoyment. Let the rich, therefore, 
prepare for an event, of which they can no more defeat 
or retard the approach, than the Kings and Emperors 
of the last hundred years, have been able, to refuse to the 
people of many nations, what they have heretofore denied 
to them with absolute sway. 

It is evident, therefore, that, at least, the free States of 
this Union, may with one accord, and, as it were, simul- 
taneously, adopt the system now under consideration. 
Under such a supposition, then, it is a very'proper subject 
of inquiry ; to ascertain how far the importation of foreign 
commodities, will interfere with the rights and happiness 
of each individual among us. 

To free it of all difficulty, I shall suppose that the System 
herein recommended, is adopted, at least, by a great ma- 
jority of the States. These States become then, in this 
respect, one great community, so far as foreign trade is 
concerned, erected on it. I shall suppose, too, that the 
constitutional question is at rest. For, if the Constitution 
be admitted, now, to deny the power to impose prohibition, 
or prohibitory restrictions on importations, of any and every 
kind ; yet, as majorities can do any thing, (and the free 
States are a majority), they can amend it, so as to confer 
the power in question. And, this power so to amend the 
Constitution, the majority possess, and have the right 
to exercise it, even with reference to the existing order of 
things. Certainly then, their power to make such amend- 
ments, under a change of sentiment, in each of the States 
forming the majority, as it regards the internal disposition 



272 

of their own affairs, cannot, in any respect, be ques- 
tioned. 

What now, do we suppose this great community to be 
about to do ? To make a General Division, of their entire 
effects, real and personal, equally among all their citizens. 
And for what purpose ? In the first place, that each may 
have, in the midst of society, all and equal the rights, in 
substance, which he would have in a state of nature. And 
this, it is necessary to do now, by a full and General Divi- 
sion, because governments, when they did begin, did not 
begin on right principles ; they began, and continued, in 
such a manner, that as the result of these wrong principles, 
more than nine-tenths of the human race have been robbed 
of their right of property, and as a consequence are slaves 
and panders to the other tenth. Therefore, is it necessary 
to remodel every thing, and begin on principles that are 
true and equal in themselves ; and to organize public af^ 
fairs, in such a manner as to preserve this equality unim- 
paired to the latest period of man's existence. And for 
what other purpose is this general division to be made ? 
That there may be, among all these citizens, a judicious and 
equal distribution of the pursuits of industry. Thus more 
labor is accomplished by one man's doing one thing ; ano- 
ther, another ; and so on, through the whole circle of occu- 
pations, than could be done, if each one must do some- 
thing of every thing ; that is, as much as his wants require, 
even supposing them to be very few, hmited and unrefined. 
How much more is accomplished in this distribution of oc- 
cupations, than could be, under a contrary system, no man 
can tell. It no doubt exceeds in numerous instances, sevC' 
ral hundred thousand times ; and in others, the ratio as- 
cends to infinity. It is of the utmost importance, then, to 
avoid every discouragement to the full operation of a sys- 
tem, which produces such wonderful effects. 



273 

But what discouragement should I not feel, if, on receiv- 
ing my portion of the common property—suppose it to 
come in the shape of money, F should have assigned to me 
the duty of making thimbles, for my fellow citizens ; my por- 
tion affording me the capital to do so, and, on my getting 
them ready for use, I should be told, that thimbles are al- 
ready brought in from some other country, and at a cheaper 
rate ? Would my fellow citizensbe justified in buying those 
cheaper thimbles ? Had I expected, that on laying out my 
patrimony, I who never wanted a thimble in my whole life, 
should not have been able to have sold these thimblesj 
would I have made them ? Would I have sunk my patri- 
mony in them, and left myself in utter destitution ? It is 
understood, of course, that the return I demand for them is 
no more than equal to the time employed upon them. It is 
further to be understood, that this labor is no more than 
would have been expended, if any other of my fellow citi- 
zens had made the same thimbles, instead of myself. What 
justice, then, is there, in their refusing to purchase mine, 
and in supplying themselves from the foreigner ? I care not 
what are the foreigner's ofters as to price. I do not care, 
if he have any price; he may even, if any one pleases, be 
disposed to give them to my fellow citizens. They shall 
not receive them ! If they do, they break the civil compact ; 
the bonds of society are snapped asunder ; and I, and oth- 
ers like me, have a right to dispossess them of their property; 
and re-enter into the enjoyment of our original right of 
soil ; or to parcel it off into new allotments. For society 
is as much a compact to consume the productions of each 
other's industry, in total exclusion of those of the foreigner, 
as it is for the common defence against the attacks of the 
common enemy. The moment a cotton-planter, for exam- 
ple, refuses to consume the productions of the spindles, 
the loomsj or the anvils of his countrymen ; and buys the 



274 

like articles oi foreign manufacture ; / care not at what- 
price; that moment he breaks the Social Contract; and 
society has a right to thrust him from his plantation, and 
order him to go, and from his own experience learn how 
useful it is. not to requite industry with its just return. The 
truth is, that plantation is not his, unless he will cultivate 
cotton, in excess, beyond his own wants of the article, on 
the one hand ; that he may have a superfluity to afford to 
his fellow citizens ; and on the other, unless he expends 
the avails of that superfluity, or so much thereof as he re- 
quires, in such articles of the arts and industry of his fellow 
citizens, as he may need. He may not buy those articles 
of the foreigner at all. And the reason for this is, that this 
same cotton-planter, in consequence of my undertaking to 
make thimbles,^ for instance, has my share (by original 
right) of the common soil, in his possession ; while /, who 
^ do not want it, give it up to him, and expend my time and 
capital in doing that for him and others, which they need, 
but which I do not. If I am not to have return for my 
capital and labor, my patrimony is gone, my labor lost, and 
myself a dependent upon him and others, by their breach 
of faith with me, induced by the appearance of the goods of 
this foreigner among us. 

And such is the argument which will apply to the whole 
circle of occupations. Each for himself may make the ap- 
plication. No man is, of right, to consider himself the ex- 
clusive owner of an advantageous pursuit, of a location 
on, or title to soil, or other property ; unless he fulfils these 
conditions. Nature never yet made a farm, or a planta- 
tion, and engraved the owner's name upon it. It is gov- 
ernment, it is institution, it is men^ in one word, who have 
said, who shall be the owner ; and when they shall be ready, 
or prompted to it, from any motive, they can UNSAY it. 
They can speak to this farmer, to this planter, as they can to 



275 

any other man : ** Sir, ifyou think you can compete with fo- ' 
•' reigners, on equal terms, and make a hving for yourself^ 
'• you shall do it. It is you who shall manufacture — and wci 
" will be farmers and planters. No longer shall you have 
*' this portion of the domain of nature, on which to practice 
"'• oppression upon your fellow citizens. We are men of 
^* toil ; and we demand that you, and every other man, 
'•' shall be willing to afford to us as great a return for that 
'' toil, in whatever it may consist, as you and others would 
" require, if it were yourselves who had performed it. This 
*' we will have, or we will raze society to its foundation, 
" and tumble you among the ruins." And such is the 
language which is applicable to all sections of our country 
— ^and to all classes of our people, and to all the pursuits 
that engage them. 

But may not the public power, it is asked, admit, at all, 
b^ foreign productions, rude or manufactured ? It has the 
fight to judge ; is my answer. It will have no objection, 
in general, where the importing State does not produce the 
article or its substitute. If it does produce it, then it may 
callow it, if it shall seem good to do so ; but only on one 
condition ; and this condition is, that full indemnity be 
fiven to every man in the community, who suffers hy suck 
importation. If it ruin the business of any man engaged 
in the production or fabrication of what is similar, so much 
must be given him, as will not only replace the expendi- 
ture he has already made, but as much more also as will 
enable him to commence in some new pursuit, and get it into 
the same prosperous condition, as is the one which foreign 
trade is now destroying. And so has every other citizen a 
similar claim, wkp is situated in a similar manner. If gov- 
ernments took this rule for their guide, they would not only 
do justice to the parties affected by their legislation ; but 
they would take care, oftener than they now do, how they 



& 



270 

j.uined, in their ignorance, corruption, isport or caprice, the 
labors of whole classes of the comniunity. 

I enter not now into any discussion as to the details of the 
policy, vvhich the Public Power ought to observe, in relation 
to importation from other countries. I have desired only to 
show, that when a man surrenders up his original right of soil > 
and leaves others in possession of it ; and goes and em- 
ploys his industry, and the artificial substitute which he has 
taken in lieu of such original right, (whenever such sub- 
stitute shall have been given at aZ/,) and invests them in 
the arts, that the community has a made a contract with 
him to consume the productions which he thus prepares 
for their use. If it be so, and I think it is so unquestiona- 
"bly, such contract is to be literally fulfilled : and in case 
of failure, the community are indebted to him in an amount 
equal to a full indemnity. 

Let, therefore, society be organized upon principles, as 
regards property, such as that every man must live by his 
own industry, instead of rioting upon the labors of others ; 
and there will be no doubt, that he will be as willing, who- 
ever he may be, as any one, that there be as ample room as 
possible for his industry to display itself in. Not to desire 
this, would be not to understand his own interest ; for, his 
own interest, under the circumstances I have supposed, 
would be, to have asfeiv competitors as possible; and in 
order to obtain this object, it would be necessary to shut 
out the foreigner's productiops lo the greatest possible ex- 
tent ; for, by so doing, a much greater variety of occupa- 
tions would remain to the balance of the community ; who 
would, or might otherwise have to come and interfere with 
him, or he with them. Under the organi^-ation in question 
the4)eople would soon tell their governors, in a voice not 
to be misunderstood or disregarded, what to shut out, and 
what to admit ; and this latter would very speedily be very 



277 

little indeed. If, heretofore, it has been, and still continues 
to be very great, it is because those who live on the labors 
of others among us ; who have no industry of their own to 
be dried up by importations ; whose resources are not anni- 
hilated by that very trade which, as they think, will give 
them more for their possessions, than their countrymen 
can give ; have so far held the ascendancy in the councils 
of the nation, as to be enabled to suffer immense importa- 
tions to be made to the manifest prejudice and injury of 
large classes of our citizens. Let these, however, be placed 
in situations where their own labor must support them, and 
they will be as ready as other men who live by labor, to 
shut out the productions of the labor of other countries. 
Any diecussion, therefore, in detail, as to what policy, or 
rule of policy, the governing authority ought to pursue, in 
relation to importations, it would bo not oniy out of place 
here, but would be better left to be judged of by those who 
shall have occasion first to call it into action. 

But although we waste our time to speak of these 
details, (for they would vary as to different countries ; 
and even in the same country, as to different times,) still it 
may not be amiss to offer a remark or two, by way of gene- 
ral principles, as to the theory of a highly restricted trade, 
in opposition to that which is called free ; a theory which 
all, or nearly all nations, will feel themselves compeilerl to 
adopt, whenever their people shall awake to an understand- 
ing of their rights of property, as developed in this work. 

That an universal free-trade thoughout the nations of 
the world cannot exist, without mcalculable injury to a ma- 
jority of nations, is evident from this : that, though all na- 
tions may have, or may be supposed to have, the same, or 
in other words, equal artificial facilities for the production 
of the commodities of commerce ; yet they cannot have 
the same natural facilities. Climate and diversified natural 

24 



278 

productions ; and these too, in circumstances more or less 
advantageous, have ordered otherwise. That nation, 
therefore, which has the greatest aggregate of both these 
facilities, will be the one, which, going into the common 
markets of the world without any restriction, if the free- 
trade system is to prevail, will be able to undersell all other 
natiotjs ; and, if her resources be sufficiently extensive, to 
break down their industry altogether ; if not so extensive, 
to inflict on it irreparable injury. For it is not to be con- 
troverted, that those w illsell, to the exclusion of all other^, 
who will give the most for the same money. And he \MfeD 
has the greatest natural and artificial advantages, is the 
one, of all others, who can give the most. Thus of two 
nations, alike in the number and skill of their people, alike 
in every circumstance save one ; that is, that the wheat- 
fields, for example, of the one, with the same cultivation, 
yield double the produce of the wheat-fields of the other ; 
one will have advantages over the other, with which the 
latter cannot contend even in his own country. So, in 
some countries, three crops of wheat are raised in a year, 
with less expense than is obliged to be laid out, in other 
countries, to produce one. All other circumstances being 
the same, the latter, on free-trade principles, would never 
raise its own wheat ; much less export it to foreign coun- 
tries; and the field that should produce it, will be left bar- 
ren ; and the men who should employ their industry upon 
it, will bury that industry in the grave of idleness for ever. 
But, it is not, usiially, in a single particular only, that 
nations are found to have advantages over others, in na- 
tural facilities and resources ; and the consequence is, that 
such fortunate nations, in a system of free-trade, must, and 
inevitably will, have the power of greatly injuring less for- 
tunate nations. The only protection against such a cala- 
mity, of which these latter can avail themselves, is, to 



279 

reSort to exclusion ; leaving the principles of free-trade Co 
operate only within their own limits ; and, within these^ 
their operation should, be unobstructed by the slightest 
hindrance. 

But, if the power of fortunate nations appears so formi- 
dable to the prosperity of others, who are less so, tinder 
the supposition that their artificial facilities are equal; how 
much more dangerous to the latter, may it not be, when 
nations which have the greatest natural, shall happen to 
have the greatest artificial advantages also ? Against such 
competitors, there could be none but an unavailing anfl 
suicidal attempt at competition. 

It is evident, therefore, that statesmen, who have con- 
tended for the application of the free-trade system to the 
commerce of the world, have not considered, that the phyr 
sical constitution, itself, of the globe we inhabit, forbids it, 
by a decree, which man has not the power to revoke ; 
since he cannot make all climates similar and equal : and 
and have not reflected, even if he could make them equal, 
that still we could not have free-trade. We should then 
only have free ports^ into which the vessels of all nations 
7night-eniex ; but which they would have no inducement 
to enter ; since, all climates being equal and similar, I , for 
example, should buy sugar of my next door neighbor, 
rather than to purchase it of a man who brings it from a 
distant country, and who, in consequence, must charge me 
more for it than my neighbor will demand. 

If thefe be those, who, living in an unfortunate climate, 
still wish to 'have the productions of climates more favored, 
and at prices consistent with their advantages, they should 
know that there is only one way in which their wishes can 
be gratified, compatibly with the welfare of the State in 
which they live ; and that is, to emigrate to the favored 
country in question. Any other method of gratifying their 



280 

desires, would lead to the destruction of the happiness of 
those among whom they live, by rendering it impossible to 
cultivate whatever advantages and resources they might hap- 
pen to possess. There is an old proverb which says, " As 
you make your bed, so you must lie." And we may say 
much in the spirit of it, that where a man lives, there is the 
country which must afford him, chiefly, the means of his 
subsistence ; and foreign nations must be allowed to come 
as Httle as posssible, with their productions into its market. 
Th<is will the whole, or very nearly the whole fund of the 
industry of the country, be reserved for its own people ; and 
this fund, in a System of Social Institution, which aims to 
place all men in situations in which they will be compelled 
to live by their own labor, cannot be preserved with too 
much care, perseverance, and tenacity. 

As it regards the application of these principles, with 
respect to the United States, which may be called a great 
importing nation ; it might be shewn, that by resorting to the 
system of a vigorous exclusion of the productions of the in- 
dustry of other nations, an addition would be made to the 
fund of our own industry, of probably fifty millions of dol- 
lars annually. Our imports are now about eiglity millions. 
This is the Custom-House valuation, which is always be- 
low the truth. To this consideration, smuggling is to be add- 
ed ; so that if we put our imports at one hundred millions, 
it Will probably be none too much. Now, there is no 
doubt, if we were to cease to purchase these 100 millions 
worth of merchandize ; such is our commercial and politi- 
cal situation, that we should still be able to sell to the world 
at large, at least fifty millions of our produce ; thus making 
an addition to our industry of the other fifty. And this, 
and more, would be required, when the unproductive 
classes among us should be compelled to live on their own 
labor, instead of the labor of others. Indeed, there need 



281 

be little hesitation in saying, even as things are new, that 
there is, at this timo^, a sufficiency among us, of unemploy- 
ed industry, so to speak, to perforin, thrice told, all the 
labor that would be necessary to earn the fifty millions Of 
dollars in question, if foreign trade did not take it out of 
our hands. 

To these reflections may be added another ; that the 
system of a severely restricted trade would bring along 
with it another advantage. This is, the impossibility there 
would be of the existence of speculation in the rise and fall 
of the prices of the commodities of commerce. A home 
market, held exclusively by our own citizens, would be un- 
fluctuatingly steady, or very nearly so. War or peace 
would scarcely affect it at all. In this point of view, it 
would be of the utmost importance ; inasmuch as it would 
be evident that no man could make his possessions greater 
than another's, otherwise than by greater industry, economy 
and skill. Opportunity for speculation being cut off, by 
having as little commercial connection with foreign na» 
tions as possible, it would hav6 no field in which it could 
operate at home. For all men, being nearly equal in 
point of property, no one would have the means, as now 
many have, of monopolizing whole markets, through the 
agency of gigantic credit or capital ; and in the new state 
of things, nothing could be done in this way, but by means 
of conspiracy or combination ; and this the laws would 
punish and prevent. 

One or two remarks further, in relation to this branch of 
my subject, it may be well to make. There are those 
who, contemplating the unhappy effects visited upon chi^ 
tken employed in many of the theatres of national industry, 
in many countries of Europe and elsewhere, have felt and; 
still feel a strong repugnance to this national industry, on 
that account. But it should be remembered that, in thfe 



, 282 

proposed new modification of society, the tender years 
of children would be devoted to instruction and education ; 
and that none of them would be put to labor of any kind, 
till nature had given them age and strength sufficient for 
the accomplishment of what would then be required of 
them. It is to be considered also, that many of the pro- 
cesses of the arts, which now call for the employment of 
many children, will, under the new organization of things, 
(the event is happening even now,) be so improved and 
modified, as to supercede, sooner or later, all necessity for 
their help ; and thus enable human society to profit by 
these arts, more without the assistance of these children, 
than now they can with them. I trust, therefore, that 
those who have felt objections to take care of and encou- 
rage the labor, m whatever it consists, of our own people, 
in exclusion of that which is foreign, from humane and 
kind considerations to the welfare of children, will see that 
they will have no cause for such objection in the equal 
condition of things which it is the purpose of this work to 
recommend and maintain. 

The view I take of the probable extent and condition of 
our foreign and domestic commerce, under the contemplated 
new organization of human society, provided all, or even a 
majority of the States of our Union, should adopt it, makes it 
proper to say a word in respect to our National Navy. It will 
be said, that if all men are to have equal property on coming 
to the age of maturity, and previous thereto, equal educa- 
tion, that it will be impossible to find men to man it. Be 
it so. And let the navy go down for ever. If it be said 
that a strong naval power would then command all oceans ; 
I answer, that it may be so. So might the armies of Na- 
poleon, if they were upon them, subjugate the deserts of 
Arabia ; and what would it profit him ? If any nation de- 
sires it, let thenif by their navies, conquer these oceans. 



283 

All that the rest of the world has to do, is, to make them 
an Arabian desert to them. Not to trade between nation 
and nation, or only to trade in swift sailing vessels, at the 
hazard of their owners, will accomphsh all this. There 
would then be nothing but loss in such conquests ; and th6 
consequence would be, that they would be speedily re- 
nounced for ever. 

It is to be said, besides, that nations, which are com- 
mercial, and sufficiently so, to create and maintain such a 
navy as would be of any avail in any such attempt, are pos-^ 
sessed of a population having intelligence sufficient to un- 
derstand the plan of government marked out in this work ; 
and will be altogether hkely to adopt it, if it shall be so for- 
tunate as to be adopted in this country. In such an event 
they would be as desirous as ourselves, to have nothing to 
do with navies ; and thus they would sink into non-exist- 
ence for the want of support. 

Thus far has this work proceeded in discussing the 
moral and political features of all governments, as they are 
now constructed : and thus far is it seen how these fea- 
tures can be modified so as to compare much better than 
any system does now, with the actual equal rights of all 
men. Thus far will it appear, that all governments may 
and ought to be put down, which do not preserve to all 
these rights. If it be one man's right, to let the earth out 
on hire, so is it another's ; if one man may not sell to his 
fellow-men, the use of what God created for all, and for 
one as much as for another, so may not another. If one 
may live without labor, so may another ; if one may live 
with little labor, so may another ; if one must live by 
muck labor, so must another ; if one man may take an- 
other's labor, and appropriate it to the support of him who 
did not labor, so may any and every man do the same, 
If one may have, of the property of a generation, that has 



284 

gone before us, five, or ten, or fifty, or a hundred, or five 
hundred thousand dollars ; or a million, or five million, so 
may another, and every other. Nor is it to be said, even 
as things are now, that it is the dead who ever give pro- 
perty to their successors, after all. It is not they who 
GIVE : they have power to do nothing : for, if they had, 
many of them would carry it away with them to another 
world, if any such there be. It is THE LIVING who 
give the present holders of property the possession of it ; 
it is we ourselves, (for in us and us alone, rests the title,) 
who have done it ; and who yet allow it to be said, and 
hardly without contradiction from us, that others have 
done it : it is a mistake : IT IS NONE BUT THE 
GENERATION PRESENT,— that gives, to what are 
called heirs, the possessions they enjoy ; without this gift, 
this unjust and undeserved gift, they could not and would 
not have it atall ! It is in OUR POWER, then, to CALL 
BACK the gift, whenever we shall think fit ! That NOW 
IS THE TIME, need not further be shewn ; for in show- 
ing that ALL MEN HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS, as welj 
TO PROPERTY, as to hfe and liberty, every thing is 
shewn that is requisite. The time for acting on these 
principles is, when they are seen to be true ; whenever 
they find a confirmation of their correctness in every human 
breast. 

It remains then now, to speak more particularly of the 
methods which will be found most convenient in practice, 
to bring about the General Division in question. It may 
appear at first view, to be a matter of great difficulty to do 
it, however just and proper it may, in itself, be. 

But on examination, it will be found to be of very easy 
execution, although it is a subject interwoven with the 
concerns, with the multiplex concerns, of more than two 
millions of people. But when so important an object as 



285 

tlie re-possession of man*s rights, is to be achieved, means 
will be found which were scarcely imagined to be in exist- 
ence. And that so great a work, can be so easily done, 
is, I ihink, one of the strongest proofs of the genuine 
character of the rights in question. 

I shall suppose, however, that the course I recommend 
to be pursued, is the one which shall be adopted, and that 
the details necessary to execute it, will be much of the 
character, which I now proceed to describe. If the reader 
shall think that the measure of disavowing all debts, &.c. 
&c. is too bold and daring, let him suspend his opinion, 
till I have an opportunity to show him, that both justice 
and policy demand it ; that in its operation it will be found 
to injure no one's just rights ; and that it is the cheapest, 
surest, readiest way in which he can obtain his own rights. 
The first of these details consists in an universal suspen- 
sion of all business, except in so much as is necessary for 
subsistence, until the whole can be accomplished. All 
persons having domicil or residence, will remain where 
they are. Those who have not any fixed residence, and 
many unhappily there are, especially in cities ; a grievous 
evil, this, growing out of the present system of the rights 
of property, will have such residence provided for them. 
All without distinction will have food and fire, (perhaps 
after the manner of rations) furnished to them, at the ex° 
pense of the State, until the division is accomplished. 

That all this may be done in the shortest time possible, 
it must be the work of many hands : for the old saying is, 
" Many hands make hght work." In numbering the peo- 
pie, then, and in taking an inventory of their property, of 
whatever kind it may be, it is necessary to subdivide the 
whole surface of the State, into a very great number of 
small sections, or departments. And these small sections 
are more particularly requisite in cities. Thus, the wards 



286 

ouglit each of them to be divided into three, four, five, and 
in some cases, even more departments. The counties in 
this State, being as I beheve fifty-four in number, are sub- 
divided into about seven hundred and fifty-seven town- 
ships.* These I have ascertained, upon an average, may 
have a surface of about sixty-four square miles, equivalent 
to about 8 miles long by 8 broad. This would probably 
be too large a surface to be suffered to compose one de- 
partment The number of school-districts, in these town- 
ships, cities included, amounts to eight thousand six hun- 
dred and nine.t This would give about eleven such dis- 
tricts to each township. If the departments were made as 
numerous and as small, of course, as these districts, and 
were made identical with them, it would be to subdivide 
the State into departments sufficiently numerous and small. 
And perhaps two or three such school-districts, might 
be quite as conveniently made into one department. In 
the latter case, three for example, the number of depart- 
ments would amount to about twenty-eight hundred. Each 
of these departments, then, in the interior, would contain 
about five hundred and fifty inhabitants upon an average ; 
and occupy a space of about sixteen square miles ; that is 
4 long and 4 broad. This would probably be as small as 
the departments need be, for the purpose in view. 

Each of these departments, for themselves, and not by 
any intervening authority, should choose their assessors, 
appraisers, and whatever other officers may be wanted to 
carry the proposed measure into execution. This is an 
important point, to be attended to. It is the inhabitants 
of those departments, who would know best who among 
them were suitable. They would choose men, the best 

* See Report of Superintendent of Comraon Schools, 
I See same Report. 



287 

qualified, both as regards integrity, and, from habits of 
business, judgment of the value of all kinds of property. 
But as no man can be supposed to know every thing, in 
a matter of this kind, each department should be called 
upon to organize a committee, to be composed of men 
acquainted with the value of all kinds of property likely to 
be found within such department, to go with the appraisers 
and assist them to form a correct opinion. At the same 
time that they take this assessment or valuation, thej take 
the census also. But of the details of this part of their 
service, 1 shall say more, by and by. In making valuation, 
the new condition of things in which we are about to enter, 
is to be considered. It is to be considered that the same 
principles of valuation, which prevail now, are not to be 
allowed to have action here. Thus nothing is more com- 
mon than for an appraiser, now, to make up his mind that 
such and such a sum would be obtained by a forced salcj 
either private or public, and to fix his valuation according- 
ly, whereas this forced sale affords a much less sum than 
actually the property has honestly and judiciously cost, and 
less than it would bring, even under the present operation 
of the prsvailing system, acting in the most benignant 
manner of which it is capable. But the approaching sys- 
tem presents new features. It brings into the market, the 
whole community as purchasers, by giving them means of 
purchase ; and competition, therefore, to elevate every arti- 
cle to its full value, is made to exert all its force. In 
the appraisal of articles of property, of which use has been 
made, nothing is more common, than to reduce the price 
of it greatly below its actual value. For the actual worth 
of an article, which, with proper usage, will last ten years, 
after the expiration of five years, if it has had proper usage, 
is equal to half what such a new article of the same kind 
is now worth, and in addition thereto, half the value of its 



288 

material, whatever it may be. Other articles, again, from 
their being in the hands of men who do not know the best 
application of v/hich they are susceptible ; although often 
new, or nearly so ; or knowmg, cannot succeed in finding 
those who do both know, and have the disposition and 
the opportunity to apply them to their best use ; and who 
have also the means of purchase^ are often put down at a 
value merely nominal ; whereas if all knew they could 
purchase, and could apply the article or property they 
purchased, to a use which would be valuable to them, no 
species of property would be suffered to go unbought, at 
its full value, nor unapplied to the purpose for which it is 
most beneficial to society. 

And herein do we see, in a signal manner, the self pun- 
ishment, which the present system of obtaining riches, in- 
flicts on those who avail themselves of it. For often when 
by the force of necessitous circumstances, the rich man 
succeeds in obtaining property from another, at a price, 
greatly below what it cost the producer, we see it remain- 
ing on his hands, more or less unproductive. And for the 
very reason, that he, and other rich men, by the arbitrary 
and unnatural condition of things, in which every thmg is 
placed, and by which he and other rich men together, 
have the power lo do so, have actually prevented every 
hody else, from being able to purchase. They realize in 
themselves, the absurdity and folly, as well as the wicked- 
ness of the man, who as the story is told (a very humble 
story, too, it is true although not altogether inapplicable) 
wished every body to die, in order that he might set up a 
public tavern. So do the rich desire to get the whole 
world into their possession and afterwards expect to find 
purchasers for it, and that too at full prices. 

It will be proper, then, to take into consideration these 
drcumstances ; and when it is done, it will be apparent 



that no valuation of the property in this State, that has 
ever been taken, has ever given any thing like the amount, 
which it would now bring, if put up at public sale, to an 
entire community, of whom every individual has as much 
as another, in the means of purchase. 

These appraisers, and their accompanying committeec 
should also designate, the lots or quantities of property, to 
be put up to sale, to be knocked off at any one bid. Thus 
indivisible property, such as a Steam-Engine, is not to be 
divided at all, for reasons that need not be stated. A 
Steam-Boat is also of the same description ; so also is a 
Church, and many other kinds of property. On the other 
hand, property, particularly of a personal kind, should be 
divided as much as possible ; so that all may have oppor- 
tunity of purchasing what the satisfaction of their wants 
may require. Thus it would be manifestly improper, and 
useless to set up whole bales of broad cloths, sheetings, 
shirtings, &c. and so again as it regards mechanical, do- 
mestic, agricultural and other implements. If it be said 
that people from the interior will require many of the 
goods, for example, in this city, and that under such an 
arrangement they could not obtain any ; because they can- 
not be supposed to be able to come to New-York or other 
cities to attend the sales ; I answer, that the way in which 
this is to be done, is this. 

It is understood, that every citizen of the State, of full 
age, will have, after the appraisal and inventory have 
been made out, a credit on what maybe called the *' Cre- 
dit-Book" of the State, equal to that which any and 
every other person will have on the same book. If now, 
there be, for instance, five hundred, or any other number 
of persons whatever, in Jefferson County, for example, 
and these should be desirous of obtaining goods in this city, 
they have only to select an agent that suits them, and in- 

25 



290 

struct him to come here, and make such purchases for 
them, as they may require. In order to have the means of 
payment, a portion of their credit, will be placed in his 
hands such in amount, as those who place it there, may 
choose to determine, and those who thus transfer any por- 
tion of their credit, to such agent, in trust for their own 
use, will be charged on the same book, with its amount. 
This credit, therefore, in the hands to which it may be 
committed, is the same thing as money ; only that on ar- 
riving in our city the person entrusted with it, calls on the 
public agent or agents here for its verification. 

It may be as proper, here, as elsewhere to observe, that 
when the General Sales take place, owing to local circum- 
stances, which are not necessary to be mentioned, stran- 
gers from other States and places, will be present to pur- 
chase also. These should be informed, previous to the 
time of sale by public advertisement, that nothing but gold 
and silver will be taken in payment. Bank notes being 
nothing but a species of credit, the State will not under- 
take to sell the public property, and take promises of any 
kind, or of any body, or any institutions in payment. 

In all places, after valuation or assessment is made, all 
personal property except so much as may be necessary for 
domestic or family use, until the time when the new order 
of things is fully established, is put in charge of the State, 
immediately after the valuation of each person's personal 
effects is completed But, in very few instances will it be 
necessary to remove any thing. The houses, buildings, 
and apartments m which they are contained, may be sealed 
and locked up and remain so, until the time of sale. As 
it regards personal property left, as it were by necessity, in 
the hands of families for their temporary convenience, they 
are to be answerable for its forthcoming, at the peril of 
imprisonment, such as would now be visited upon them, 



291 

for larceny, unless cause were shown to the contrary. As 
it regards personal property in dress ; the holder, if he 
chooses to retain it, does so, by subjecting himself to the 
payment of the valuation which shall be imposed upon it. 

In the country, it happens, often, that there are small 
armers, who ought by no means to have so little land as 
they now possess ; and who in the new order of things, 
will be entitled to more. Wherever circumstances will 
admit of it, more land, contiguous, is to be adjoined 
to It, in order to make such farms of profitable and equal 
size. And where it cannot be conveniently made conti- 
guous ; it should be made as little remote as possible. And 
where other farms are manifestly too large, such for in- 
stance as is sufficient to make more than the average size, 
they are to be divided accordingly. 

All vessels in port, as well as property on board of them, 
belonging to our citizens, is considered to be within the 
possession of the State, as intended by Article I. p. 137, 
notwithst anding they may happen to be absent, on voyages 
without the State. These arriving before the completion 
of the sales, are to be appraised and sold in manner the 
same as all other property. And persons arriving before 
the period mentioned, are to be entered, if they have not 
been entered, in the census accordingly The number of 
such persons will bear but a fractional ratio to the whole 
popu lation, perhaps even less than the two thousandth 
part. All absent persons, being citizens, of full age, whose 
names shall not have been caused to be recorded by their 
friends and acquaintances, and who shall not return ante- 
rior to the closing of the sales, will be considered in the 
same light, when they do return, as minors arriving at the 
age of maturity. All ships, and the property on board of 
them, belonging to our citizens, which shall arrive at a pe- 
riod subsequent to the completion of the said sales ; shall 



292 

be sold as soon as practicable, thereafter, and the proceeds 
applied to the benefit of minors afterwards coming of age ; 
and others who shall not be present at the General Divi- 
sion. 

Public school-houses, and the property immediately at- 
tached and necessary to them, not belonging to corpora- 
tions, associations, or individuals, to be exempted from 
, sale ; so also, large, and valuable libraries. These are to 
be retained, subject to the future disposition of the State. 
The latter being particularly valuable, on account of rare 
books &.C. it would be injudicious to have scattered 
again, after having been collected with much care, trouble 
and expense. It is better, therefore, that the State should 
secure them, so as afterwards to extend their benefit to the 
community in a manner as general as possible. 

To facilitate and expedite the transaction of the labors 
of the Appraisers; as soon as a suspension of all business 
takes place ; every citizen will so arrange and assort what- 
ever he has of proprety in possession, as to leave little to 
be done, when the Appraisers come. This he will be 
easily enabled to do — inasmuch as he will have nothing 
else to employ him, and inasmuch as it will be the duty of 
others to assist him. And it will be to his interest to shor- 
ten the period necessary to effect this general distribution ; 
inasmuch as the sooner it is over with, and done as justly 
and equitably as it can be, the better for him, as the soon- 
er he can commence busmess for himself. 

When the period of sale arrives, (and this should be at a 
season least interfering with the ordinary business of life ; 
and when, at the same time, the weather would not be too 
inclement to transact business, to the best possible advan- 
tage,) persons who are sick, and who, therefore, cannot 
bid for themselves, may authorise others to bid for them. 
And persons absent and attending on the sickness or burial 
of others, may also do the same. 



293 

xls now,{the husband bids in right of his wife. If the 
husband be absent, and have authorized no person to bid 
for him, the wife may bid in his stead. 

As at public sales now, no property will be delivered till 
afterwards ; in most cases, probably, not till the sales are 
generally dene with. All persons to whom any thing is 
struck off, givs in the ames; these, and their amounts, 
are entered in a book, in alphabetical order ; and when 
the sales are over, then it is ascertained who, if any, have 
exceeded their bids, and how much ; and accordingly they 
receive a written or printed permission, signed by the pro- 
per authority, allowing them to receive what was struck off 
to them. 

The order of time in which the sales should be made, 
should be such as not to be too much hurried, nor too 
much protracted. Too many should not be going on at a 
time, nor too few. The public authority will superintend 
this matter, and regulate it as it should be ; but in doing 
so, the order of arrangement should generally be such, 
that, on any rnie day, for example, articles of one kind 
only, should be offered up to sale ; yet the sale of this one 
kind may be conducted in a great many places at one and 
the same time. Thus, all who should need groceries, ought 
to have an opportunity to buy them ^ and in order to have 
such opportunityj on the same day on which these groceries 
are sold, other property should not be offered. Otherwise 
they would, or might be, prevented from having an oppor-^ 
tunity to purchase. And so with every other article. The 
classification, indeed, of all property, offered up for sale, 
should be made very extensive, so as to be able to suit, 
very accurately, the wants of all purchasers. For exam- 
ple, dry-goods, as they are called, ^would admit of being 
divided into several classes. 

OK?? 



294 

The reason that may be offered for being so particular, 
when the census is taken of the people, as to require the 
name, date of birth, as near as may be, annexing, of course, 
the age, the place of nativity, parentage, sex, color, occupa- 
tion, domicil or residence, and length of time resident since 
last resident in the State, is, that as many avenues to 
fraudulent pretensions to citizenship maybe closed as pos- 
sible, by opening every resource for detection. There is, 
besides, another and more important reason \ and it is this, 
that as there are, throughout the State, a multiplicity of 
names, exactly alike, much confusion might ensue ; but if 
all these circumstances were added also, it would scarcely 
come within the range of possibility, that any mistake 
should happen ; and as each department, even in our cities, 
would be made to consist of only a moderate number of per- 
sons, these persons together with the public authority would 
easily devise the means of preventing any one succeeding in 
an attempt to appear under the character of two or more 
different persons. It is to be observed, that severe punish- 
ment would hang over him who should be guilty of the 
commision, or the attempt at commission, of a crime like 
this ; since it would be no less an offence than that of 
grand larceny ; and would consign the offender (such 
might be the punishment) to prison for fourteen years. 
And every person would have a deep self-interest in bring- 
ing to light any, and every attempt of the kind. 

The work of making such appraisement, of taking such 
census, and receiving the inventories, where every body, 
tvithout payment for services of any kind, concurred to assist, 
and where as now, there would be nothing, else to attend 
to, further than providing meals, would be very speedily 
accomplished. The appraisement, census, and inventory 
of the whole State would be completed, in a very few days, 



295 

probably in a single week * So soon as the appraisers, 
assessors, &c. of each department have performed this du- 
ty, they would next, each for their own section, make out 
a book ; which may be called the " Department Imvento- 
ry" — and this would contain : 

1. The names of all persons, being citizens, of and over 
the age of maturity, in alphabetical order, with the desig- 
nations heretofore mentioned. 

2. The amount of all personal property, in the possession 
of such citizens. 

3. The amount of all real property, in the possession of 
siich citizens. 

4. The amount of all real property, held by persons, be- 
ing citizens of other States, and residents therein. 

6. The amount of all property of a personal kind, held 
by associations or corporations ; 

6. The amount of all real property held by the same ; 
and 

7. The amount of all other property, of a public nature, 
which the State may allow to be set up at public sale.t 



* It may be as well, in a nolo as elsewhere, to say that 
probably the full and complete division of the State, would 
be effected in six or eight weeks. 

f It would no doubt be very useful also, and it will prob- 
ably be put in practice, if the proposition which this Work 
contains is ever acted on ; to give as far as may bs conven- 
ient and practicable, the gross amount, in quantity, in the 
whole State, of various kinds of property; particularly of 
commodities which enter into general consumption.- Thus 
it would be desirable to know how much there may be of 
flour for example, and other provisions ; of sugar, coffee, 
and other groceries ; of cloths and all the various kinds of 
clothing; &c. ^c. &c., in order that some estimate may 
be formed among the citizens, of the quantity that may be 



296 

A similar Book, to be called the "Department Alien 
Book," is to be made out, embracing aliens^ in the same 
manner, as far as their circumstances are applicable. 

Each department will also make out, what may be called 
the "Department Minor Book." This will contain the 
names of minors, in manner the same as is observed with 
respect to persons of full age ; and in addition thereto, the 
time when they will arrive at maturity. To this will con- 
tinually be added, the births that take place ever after ; and 
from it will be taken the names of those who may die. 
Once a year a copy of this " Minor book" will be forward- 
ed to the centre of the State, to ascertain the number and 
names of those who may have arrived at the age of matu- 
rity. 

So soon as the departments have made out, each for 
themselves, the " Department Inventory," and the " De- 
partment Alien Book," let them make out a copy of each, 
and despatch a special messenger to the capital of the 
State, therewith ; and so soon afterwards, as another 
copy of each can be prepared, let, also, another special 
messenger be despatched with it, lest accident should pre- 
vent the arrival of the first ; and so on, a third, if it should 
be judged expedient. The State would thus make itself 
sure of receiving its returns, without delay. Otherwise the 

proportionably coming to each, when the period arrives for 
them to purchase at the Great Public Sale. And to accom- 
plish this the more effectually, as it regards some kinds of 
property, which do not enter into general use, it would be 
well to ascertain, in like manner, the number of persons, fol- 
lowing particular trades or occupations, and requiring such 
commodities ; so that it may be known, for example, how 
many smiths, and other artificers in iron, there will be, to 
purchase the articles they use, and which the State may be 
found to contain. 



297 

whole population might be waiting on a single department. 
The State having received all its returns, let there be 
made out in alphabetical order ; ** A general Inventory of 
the State," in manner the same as the *' Department Inven- 
tory," naming only persons^ &c. and amounts ; and let 
there also be made out *' A General Alien Book," si- 
milar to the *' Department Alien Book." Next let 
printed copies thereof be made, in sufficient number, 
and sent to each of the departments ; first before printing, 
having ascertained the total amount of real and personal 
property in the State ; and divided it by the number of per- 
sons, of and over the age of maturity, in order that the di« 
vidend with which each is to be credited, may be made 
known. The objects of this '^ General Inventory" are seen , 
without explanation, but the purpose of the "General 
Alien Book" may not appear at first sight. It is meant to 
guard against collusion as much as possible. By thus 
obliging ahens to record all their effects, &.C. , together with 
the names, places of residence, &c., and by spreading 
such record before every citizen, throughout the State, great 
opportunity is given for such persons to fall under suspi- 
cion, if they shall appear to possess more property than 
their acquaintances, either in the departments to which the 
" Alien Book" attaches them, or elsewhere, shall think they 
are honestly entitled ; and suspicion often brings about de- 
tection. The knowledge, therefore, of the existence of such 
a book, would have a powerful effect in preventing crime, 
which otherwise would be more freely committed. 

In each department, previous to sale, from the time when 
the inventory is made, by the appraisers, assessors &c. let 
there be a very full and sufficient advertisement made 
of such property as requires it, in order that the public 
may have ample opportunity of becoming "acquainted 
with it. Let this be done, while %t the capital of the State, 
^' The General Inventory of the State/' and the «* General 



298 

Alien-Book,'* are in preparation. Let every reasonable 
facility be afforded, under proper regulations to inspect 
such property. 

So soon as the general sales are completed, returns are 
again to be made by the departments, to the Central Au- 
thority, of the amount sold, and the persons to whom, 
each in his amount. The total amount of the sales, 
throughout the State, is next ascertained ; a new dividend 
made ; and this is the amount which each is entitled to 
retain, as his patrimony from the State. If he has bought 
more, he is a debtor to the State ; and must repay the ex- 
cess either now, or at some short period hence ; and if he 
have bought less, he is a creditor ; and is entitled to receive 
his deficiency. See Article 9. p 140. 



CHAPTER VII. 

REASOX8, 

In continuation, for a General Division of Property — and 
for the method proposed to be pursued in effecting it. 

The two preceding chapters have been confined, prin- 
cipally, to showing, if even an equal division were admitted 
to have been made, how easily and quickly such equality 
would be destroyed ; if charters, conferring exclusive 
privileges, were allowed to be granted ; if disqualifications 
for civil ofiice, or for any other purpose, or, if exemptions 
from equal contribution to the public treasury, or to the 
public service, were tolerated either in the constitution or 
the laws ; if the right of property were not extended to all 
without regard to color, or other factitious and foolish dis= 
tinction ; if the right of suffrage were not equally extensive ; 



299 

^nd if parents, more than others, were compelled to con- 
tribute to the support of their children, during their mi* 
nority. 

It became necessary to examine all these questions, in 
discussing the various articles of the PLAN, proposed to 
the consideration of the reader, at the close ot the IVth 
Chapter, (pages 137 to 144 ;) and it is apparent that they 
are involved in the details, rather than in the main subject. 
For it was, as a matter of course, to be admitted that a 
division, in some one way or other, could be effected. 
Thus, for example, if we could suppose all the present 
possessors of property, to have such a just sense of the 
right of all their fellow-beings, to an equal share of it, and 
to have also such a sense of rectitude as to give it freely 
up to them for its equal subdivision among them ; the dis- 
cussions on the subjects mentioned, which have taken 
place, would have still been necessary ; so long as the 
public mind, or any considerable portion of it, was afflict- 
ed with the errors, which it was the object of these dis= 
cussions to explode. 

But it is not to be admitted as a general principle, thai 
the rich will give up what they call their properly willingly. 
The force of habit on them is as strong as it is on others ; 
and although they may and will be compelled to see the 
injustice of the title by which they hold possession ; yet, 
many of them, will resist the force of that conviction, 
which will be sent home to their understandings, and will 
cling to an undue share of that which belongs to all 
equally, with nearly the same tenacity with which they 
cling to life itself. Those who expect to be the succes- 
sors to these possessors of property will also, many of 
them, display their hostility to that system which proposes 
ta reduce them to the common level of their fellow-citizens ; 
much in the same way, as we behold the successors of 



300 

tliose who possess political power, which is to descend in 
an hereditary manner. Nor in point of principle, is there 
any difference in the two cases. Certainly in a republican 
government, it will be quite as proper to admit of heredi- 
tary right in the son, to his father's political power, — as to 
his property. Let no man mistake himself so far as to 
deny this ; for, if he shall be disposed to say that the politi- 
cal power, spoken of, is not his ; but the property is ; I 
answer, it is not so. He has both of them, for the time 
being ; and after he has done, with either the one or the 
other, they are no longer at his disposal. He has no just 
power to say, into whose hands either shall succeed. Let 
it be recollected, too, that as in the case of political power, 
when it is deposited in the hands of an agent, for the 
common good, such power, at any moment^ when the 
community shall think proper so to order, may be takea 
out of his hands ; so also, the property, which any com- 
munity, no matter for what reason ^ has heretofore suffered 
to remain in my hands unequally : whether it be in ignor-" 
ance of their own rights, or otherwise, may be tijcen out 
of my possession, by the great community, of which I am 
a member, and be appropriated to the good of all equally ; 
for it is to these, to whom it belongs ; and not to me, be- 
yond my equal portioi^. 

But as, when they fully understand their rights, their 
interests and their happiness, a very great majority of any 
nation will, I may presume, be found to be in favor of the 
principles which this Work supports and inculcates ; and 
as such majority will possess almost the entire physical 
force of the State ; there is but one way in which those, 
who shall wish to oppose the will of such majority, may be 
able to do it with success. This is, by frStiid and cunning. 
There will be those who, even under an oath having been 
given by them to the contrary, will go and bury their doj- 



301 

iarsin the earth, rather than report them in their inventory. 
Others would send out of the State, or otherwise conceal, 
their personal property, subject to their future use ; and 
remain themselves to obtain their share of the general 
dividend ; notwithstanding heavy punishment might hang 
over their heads for having done so ; and notwithstanding 
the perjury they would find it necessary to commit to con- 
ceal the act. Others again would enter into collusive 
understandings with strangers, not parties to the proposed 
division, to make claim to their property, in order to keep 
it out of the general division ; although for all this conduct; 
the same awful peril to person and character, would attend 
the transaction if detected. 

It is evident, therefore, if the few, (for the rich are the 
few,) may be able, by fraud and cunning thus to counter- 
act the designs and the rights of the many ; that the 
method to be pursued in obtaining possession of the pro- 
perty to be divided, should be as effectual as it is possible 
to make it. And yet it ought to be of such a character, 
as not to do injustice to a neighboring btate. Thus it 
would seem that the landed property of a citizen of New- 
Jersey, which he holds in this State, should not be given 
up and apportioned aaiong our own citizens, without giv- 
ing him an indemnity. And so might the same be said, 
of every other citizen, of every other State or nation. 
Nor indeed would there be any objection to giving such 
indemnity ; provided all the landed property, or the full 
value thereof, which our citizens own, in all other States 
or nations, could be wrested from them, and placed in our 
State Treasury. For, then,, this sum, so placed in the 
Treasury would probably be equal, and perhaps more 
than adequate, to pay the amount of the indemnities in 
question. It would, in effect, amount to an exchange be- 
tween foreigners holding land here, and our citizens held- 

26 



302 

lug land abroad. Let us now suppose that such an 
exchange had voluntarily taken place, and that all the 
land within the State was actually owned by our own citi- 
zens, and none by foreigners of any kind or description 
whatever ; what then might not be said ? Could it be 
pretended, that the land which the foreigner lately owned 
within our limits, and which, by way oi" exchange, he has 
just conveyed to one of our own citizens, should not and 
ought not to come into the division. No man's property 
ought to come in unless good reason be shown therefor. 
And one good reason may be that his title to such property 
is not a just one. Now, the titles to all men's property, 
are things which all communities have a right to inquire 
into. Thus they have a right to inquire into the title, not 
only of the man who might have received his land from a 
citizen of New- Jersey, of Connecticut, of Vermont, of 
Pennsylvania, or of any other State, but also into the title 
of every other citizen, and of every other kind of pro- 
perty. 

It matters not as to the kind of tribunal, — which shall 
be appointed to try their titles, so that it decides justly. 
The whole community, may appoint agents, whom we call 
judges ; and order them to enquire. Or the community 
may do it, itself, in its own primary capacity. It may in- 
vestigate every man's pretensions ; and after having done 
so ; it is proper for it to say, if it thinks so ; to this claimant, 
■" you hold too much ; you have more than is your own ;" 
to that, " \ou have too little ; receive from the other, what 
he holds too much ;" and so on, through the whole commu- 
nity. Nor is this community, so acting in its primary and 
original character ; to receive rules or principles from any 
one, by which to govern its decisions or to guide its 
judgment : it acts for itself; and upon principles, which it 
sees, itself J to be good and equitable^ and upon NONE 
OTHER. 



303 

If then, there shall appear to be some thing worthy of 
consideration, and about which we should hesitate, when 
it is proposed to take the lands, in this State, held by a cit- 
izen of another State, without indemnity ; so also is there 
similar consideration due to the creditors of our citizens 
in another State, when it is proposed to nullify the debts 
which are due to fhem. But investigation will set the mat- 
ter in a clear light, such that we shall see jusrice done to 
all parties. For. it is impossible that men can have rights^ 
and that there shall he no way in which to come at their 
possession. Thev were made for their enjoyment ; and 
the means were never wanting^ to obtain them, by any peo- 
ple, when they saw in what they consisted, and when also 
they possessed the means of creating among themselves a 
perfect concert of action, by the agency of a community 
of opinion. ^ 

But, if we are to hesitate when it is proposed to abolish 
the debts, or to appropriate the lands in question, on the 
one hand ; so on the other, are we to hesitate, before we 
undertake to say we will not do it. Besides there is not 
so much of inequality and injustice in such an abolition 
and appropriation, as at first thought might appear. For, 
it is to be understood, that when we refuse to pay any 
debts, we refuse to receive any also ; and that when we 
take ourselves land, which are ithin our State, owned by 
citizens of other States ; we also renounce all lands owned, 
in other states, by our own citizens. And speaking for 
his own State, a citizen of New-York, might probably say, 
that in the aggregate, however it might be in particular in- 
stances, we should give up, quite as much, as we should 
retain, and probably more. In the gross, therefore, there 
would be no injustice done. 

But, let us look at this matter a little more minutely. 
Suppose this State to renounce debts in its favor, to the 



304 

amount of one hundred thousand dollars, due from sundry 
citizens of New-Jersey to our citizens : Suppose, again, 
this State refuses to pay to sundry other citizens of New- 
Jersey, a like sum of one hundred thousand dollars, due to 
them, by our own citizens. As between State and State, 
the account would be exactly balanced. There would be 
no injustice done, by or to either party. But individuals, 
OB the one hand, would be the losers of the whole amount; 
and on the other hand, other mdividuals, in the same State, 
would be the gainers. Suppose the State Authority of 
New- Jersey, now, to interfere and order these gainers to 
give all they have gtiined to the losers ; would it not be 
perfectly right ? And would it not equalize every thing, 
precisely as if New-York had received and paid all ? 

Agam, if the debts renounced by the State of New- 
York were still si have supposed them to be ; that is, 
one hundred thousand dollars ; and the debts refused to 
be paid, were one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ; 
New- York would be a gainer to that amount : and there 
would not appear to be any means, in the system I am re- 
commending, to replace to New-Jersey this sum, which 
she had thus lost. 

So, on the contrary, if the State of New-York renounced 
debts to the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand dol- 
lars, it would lose fifty thousand dollars; and there would ap. 
pear to be no resource from which she could replace its 
amount, unless it were from the average result of all her 

debts and credits. 

But we should not forget ourselves. We should remember 
that it is impossible for such a state of trade as this to exist 
between the State of New- York, and the State of New- 
Jersey ; or between New- York and any other State or 
nation, whenever it shall appear that there is shortly to be, 
in this State, such a division of property as I have proposed 



305 

111 this Work ; and when, in order to accomplish it, it ap- 
pears also, as I shall show, that there must be an absolute 
and unqualified renunciation and abolition of all debts. 
Those who are in the practice of trade, look well after all 
that concerns it ; and when they see, that, shortly, they 
cannot tell how shortly, there will be no collection of 
debts, they will be very careful not to suft'er any to be 
created at their expense. Thus, in the State of New- 
York, that citizen who should be in favor of the proposed 
equalization of property, and its equal transmission to pos- 
terity, would be desirous to retain, for the purpose of 
throwing it into the General Fund, all that an honest trade 
would make him master of; and he would be as httle dis- 
posed as any one to credit, where he could not recover it : 
and he, on the other hand, who was opposed to it, would 
be quite as adverse to giving credit at such a time, as 7iow 
he is to one who cannot pay him. But even if he were to 
credit a foreigner, and if, in anticipation of such an event 
as that of a general division of property, he should remove 
from the State, and make himself a citizen or subject of 
some other State or nation, such rennoval could not be hin- 
dered ; but it is very doubtful, if previous to his removing 
from the State, but subsequent to a very general belief that 
the supposed abolition an< renunciation of debts, by his 
native or adopted State, would soon take place ; I say it is 
very doubtful, whether the State of New- Jersey, for exam- 
ple, would allow him to recover of one of her citizens any 
thing which he might have sold on a credit to him, at a 
time when he, the creditor, was a citizen of the State of 
New-York. 

The same reluctance would be felt not only by the citi- 
zens of New- Jersey, but of ail other States or natioii.^ who 
should trade with us, to give credit under an expectation 
of such an event, as would deprive them of the means of 

25* 



306 

collecting it. There would, therefore, be no debts on 
either hand ; and no injustice could be done by any one, 
or to any one. If, indeed, credit were given to any one, 
each would give it to persons of his own State or nation ; 
or to each other. Thus, if a merchant of New-York 
bought a cargo of cotton, and took it with him to London 
or Liverpool, with an intention to buy goods, he might not 
be able to dispose of his cotton to those of whom he might 
wish to make purchases, nor to any one else for cash ; but 
these latter would nerertheless sell him the goods in ques- 
tion ; and, in payment thereof, instead of the actual pur- 
chaser of their goods, accept as their debtor, their own 
countryman, who purchased the cotton, and who had not 
the means of present payment. 

But if, after all, it should be contended, that there would 
still be some credit given, and taken, on both sides, not- 
withstanding ; both because men are indiscreet, and 
because they cannot, all, in an equal degree, judge 
of the probability of approaching revolutions,' such, in 
effect, as this would be, thougii brought about entirely 
by the force of public suffrage ; yet still the agitations, and 
discussions, which could not fail to show themselves in the 
public mind, on such an occasion, would be in the nature 
of a notice to beware, and to keep himself harmless : as he 
has always the power to do, who lias property to dispose of. 
If after all this notice he suffered himself to be caught, it 
would be his own fault. Besides, this is a state of things, 
as lobserved before, which would make each of the two 
trading parties equally cautious ; their general course of 
trade would be, to carry with thein the means of payment ; 
and if any little balances, through indiscretion, rjemained 
unadjusted, it is altogether probable, that between two na- 
tions, the amount of credits given to each, by each, would 
V^e as nearly equal as may be. On this supposition, then, 



that these inconsiderable balances were equal, all tikt the 
government has to do, which does not come into the sys- 
tem of abolishing and renouncing debts, in order to regu- 
late this matter among themselves, is, to take the debts due 
from their citizens or subjects, to the citizens of the re- 
nouncing government ; and give them to their own citi- 
zens or subjects, who have been so injudicious as to give 
credit to the citizens of a government, who, they had 
every reason to beHeve, would soon adopt a measure 
which would prevent them from collecting it. 

These remarks, it will be said, apply only to such trans- 
actions as may be supposed to take place, after the antici- 
pated change in our State Government, begins to manifest 
indications of being finally adopted ; and that it does not 
apply to debts already contracted. These, it may be ob- 
served, in reply, are either due, or coming due, long be- 
fore such an event can have time to take place at all ; so 
that there will be an ample opportunity to make collections 
of debts already contracted ; or to fail of doing so, through 
the insolvency of the debtors. To propose, therefore, the 
abolition and renunciation of all debts, as between citizen 
and citizen, and between citizen and foreigner, can pro- 
duce injury or injustice to no one ; inasmuch as if it shall 
be considered altogether idle and visionary ; it will receive 
notice from no one, and will therefore be a nulhty ; and 
inasmuch as on the other hand, if it appears to be a neces- 
sary step for two millions of people to take, in order to ob- 
tain their rights and pursue their happiness ; then that 
course of trade will be adopted, by which there will be 
neither debtor or creditor, in either nation as regards the 
other. 

Besides, this question presents itself under another as- 
pect. That a government, as such, which has contract- 
ed, in good faith, a debt on its own account, should ob- 



308 

serve the same good faith in its discharge, there seems but 
little cause, in general, to doubt. But how far is the same 
obligation, in point of morals, for contract^ it will not be 
pretended there is any, to assist a foreigner who credits a 
citizen, to collect his debts ? It is not even to be said, that 
this same government can be called upon to lend the aid 
of its arm in collecting debts, existing between citizen and 
citizen. If government shall do so at all, it is from its own 
good will and pleasure ; and from the opinion it shall en- 
tertain that the public good will be promoted by it. As a 
matter of good policy even, it has been doubted by many 
men of the soundest practical sense, whether such interfer- 
ence on the part of government, between debtor snd cre- 
ditor, is advisable But, however men may differ on this 
point, it will not be admitted, for a moment, that the citi- 
zen or subject of a foreign government, has any claim on 
the government of this State, for example, for its aid in 
collecting a debt, which a citizen of this State may have 
contracted with the former. 

It will be said, that the state of things which existed at 
the time when the debt was contracted, ought not to be 
varied between the parties, until the transaction is settled. 
But to what would not this principle lead ? The time has 
been, in some countries, when not only the body of the 
debtor, but those of his whole family and their posterity, 
were sold for ever as slaves, if a debt were not paid. Is it 
to be said, then, if a government or people should become 
sensible of the wickedness, injustice, and enormity of a 
practice like this : that a creditor, of a few dollars, it may 
be, should rise up and say ; that until he was paid, it 
should not be abolished ? To allow such creditor to have 
any weight, would be to adopt a principle, which would 
place the power of the government entirely out of its own 
hands, into that of the creditor's. It wou^d be, to ae- 



309 

stroy its power, and to erect on its ruins a fabric, other 
tlian that which the people of a!l countries have ever con- 
templated in erecting governments for their common bene- 
fit. It would preclude the possibility of government cor- 
recting its mistakes, or renouncing barbarous principles of 
legislation, which, from causes out of its power at the time 
to Uvoid, it was compelled to adopt. 

It is apparent, therefore, that a State may, at any mo- 
ment, that it pleases, suspend the operation of all laws, 
within its own limits for the collection of debts, however, 
and with whomsoever contracted ; and more especially so, 
when it practices the corresponding justice of renouncing 
all debts to its own citizens by debtors abroad, and pro- 
vides punishment also for any of its citizens who shall be 
guilty of receiving debts so renounced, if even a foreign 
State were to be found that would allow it. And this is 
more particularly a measure of justice to all, inasmuch as 
it will be a transaction that cannot be hid from any one. 
Thus, if in this State, we are ever to have a general divi- 
sion of property, with a provision that it is to descend to 
posterity in manner much the same as is pointed out in 
this work, there must be some one to propose it : the 
way in which this is to be done is by printing : and it may 
be this Work or another. If it finds readers who think its 
principles are sound and practicable, it is evident that the 
writer is not alone in his thoughts ; others will be induced 
to coincide, as soon as they have read, examined and re- 
flected : the numbers of those whose interests, rights, and 
happiness, the work demands and defends, will increase ; 
they will soon be sufficient to elect members to the Legis- 
lature, to fulfil their wishes, by ordering, in the manner 
pointed out, in the present Constitution, the assemblage 
of a new State Convention ; and all this cannot be done., 
without exciting, the daily prints as well as otherSj to take 



310 

deep interest in what is going on, and thus to make known, 
not only to our own citizens, but to all the world, espe- 
pecially such as have any interest in knowing any thing 
about our affairs ; the revohition which is about to take 
place ; and which is not to be accomplished, without a 
renunciation and abolition of all debts as has been pro- 
posed. The whole world, therefore, will have notice ; they 
will be warned, not to trust their property to our citizens ; 
and, if after such notice, they do give credit, they will have 
no cause to complain of any one but themselves, if they 
suffer injury thereby. 

But even if it were not possible to equalize property 
among us in the way I recommend, without committing 
what apparently seems to be the injustice of denying pay- 
ment to the foreign creditors of our citizens; still such 
denial of payment would weigh but as a feather in the 
scale. For, in this as in all other changes or revolutions, 
it is allowable, if it be unavoidable, to perpetrate some 
wrong, in order to achieve much good. Thus if injustice 
were done to the people of another State or nation amount- 
ing, as we may say, to 5 — and justice and right were 
accorded to our own citizens, amounting to 100 ; this ex- 
cess of that which is good, over that which is evil, would 
justify the measure. In addition to this it may be ob- 
served — that if the principles of the rights of property con- 
tained in this work are true ; ihey are true in one nation 
as well as in another ; and then it will follow that a foreign 
creditor, especially of vast possessions, will only be divested 
of property, which is not truly his own, if he should lose 
much the greater portion of it, (due as it may be from one 
of our own citizens) by the renunciation of debts in ques- 
tion. And if he were made entirely destitute ; it would 
be evident indeed that he was made so, (conjointly with 
his having trusted his property to a foreign debtor) by thi 



3H 

abolitiorrof all debts by the government of a foreign State ; 
but it would be equally evident also, that himself and his 
fellow-citizens or subjects have the same power that we 
or any other people have, to give to each what belongs to 
him, by equaHzing all property among themselves. If they 
do not do it, and thus bring home equal justice to every 
man's door, it is their own fault ; and they cannot, with 
any propriety, blame a foreign government for it, who are 
only seeking to make the enjoyment of rights of all kinds 
equal among their own citizens, and have no wish to in- 
jure others. 

Nor IS there so httle of regard in all this proceeding of 
the abolition of all debts, to the just rights even of the 
foreigner, as, at first thought he may imagine. For what 
will be the true character of all the discussion, which this 
or any other similar work may excite, if it shall excite any ? 
Will it not be in the nature of an inquiry into the rights of 
property? Will it not be a tribunal, small and of few 
members at first, but constantly increasing, (if there be 
justice to all men m the principles I advocate) investigating 
the title, by which any and every man holds in possession 
for his own exclusive use, that which he calls his own ? 
And when the entire community of the citizens of this 
State shall all have taken a share of duty in these investi- 
gations ; what else will it be. but a great judicial tribunal, 
of all our citizens, sitting in judgment over, and deciding 
for themselves in their own primary capacity, upon the 
right to property, v/hich each man holds or pretends to 
hold ? And if such a great tribunal were seen, as it mast 
be, exercising its talents and its labors, to the ascertain- 
ment of how much property belongs t^ each ; how much 
one has mo7'e than belongs to him ; how much another 
hasZe^* •• and preparing to give the requisite orders ; would 
^ot the very existence of such a tribunal^ so employedj be 



. 312 

u warning of the most emphatic kind, to all foreigner35 
and strangers ? Would it not say in substance, to them : 
«* We are in a state of uncertainty ; we know not exactly, 
*' how much of each man's property, as himself terms it, 
* * is his own ; we cannot tell whether it be his, or how 
" much of it be his, so that he could in strict justice, con- 
'* tract debts upon it. It is better, therefore, if you deal at 
^' all with him, to give and receive equivalents in all your 
" transactions. Let nothing be done on time ; for the re- 
*'sult may be, that what now seems to be his, will be 
*' adjudged to another, or to many others ; in this latter 
" case you might lose much. It is in kindness to you, 
^' therefore, that we say ; trust nothing to any of us, till we 
" have settled our own affairs among ourselves ; and then 
" all parties will know better how to act for themselves, 
*' than they do now." 

Nor is a notice, a warning of a similar kind, though to 
a smaller extent, wanting among us now. Every day our 
Courts are employed in investigating the rights of property, 
as they now understand them. And every day does it 
happen that the right is adjudged to be in the person ' of 
him who is not the holder. How often then does it occur, 
that the holder or possessor of property, thinking that the 
right of such property, is in him, contracts debts with some 
creditor, often to large amounts, on the mere belief alone, 
as well by the creditor as by himself, of the existence of 
such right in him, which he would not have been able to 
have contracted, but for having such property in posses- 
sion ? What then results from the adjudication of the tri-^ 
bunal in question before us ? Why that the creditor loses 
all ; for although the debtor may have received an ample 
equivalent for the amount of his supposed title to posses- 
sion, he is nevertheless unable to restore it ; inasmuch as 
he has imagined himself to be worth much, and has lived 



313 

^CQrdingly ; though the event proves him to have b^ei^ 
worth nothing-. Nor doea it make any difference where 
the creditor has his residence. If an EngUsh Banker, un- 
der an impression that the title to his vast estates, of Henry 
Rutgers, of this city, vpas not to be disputed, should lend 
him on a long credit, a large amount of money ; and if 
previous to the expiration of this credit, our courts should 
have decided that the title was not in him, but in another ; 
where would be the resource of such creditor for pay« 
ment ? The estates would be beyond his reach ; and little 
or nothing of the avails of the loan would be left ; inas* 
much as the borrower, imagining that his possessions 
would justify him in so doing, had indulged in enjoyments 
freely ; and enabled others to do so, too, on his bounty. 
It appears, then, that even now, all creditors, foreign as 
well as domestic, are subject to have their claims for pay- 
ment, rendered wholly abortive, by investigations into the 
rights of property, by our tribunals ; and this, too, without 
having that friendly public warning given them^ which the 
case before us supposes. It is evident, therefore, that the 
Course I propose to pursue, is even more just to strangers^ 
than the one now practised, inasmuch as he is treated with 
more kindness and humanity who is warned of the slum- 
bering snake, than he who is suffered, even unintentionally, 
to disturb his repose and provoke his aggression. 

Nor is any exception to be taken to the character I have 
attached to a whole people when they undertake to inves- 
tigate, judicially, all their concerns as regards the rights of 
property. It is quite as competent to them ; they have 
just as good a right ; to perform for themselves, in their 
own primary character, all that they might demand of their 
judges; (if they thought proper to appoint them,) as they 
have to act in their character as legislators, in a simi^ 
lar manner, without the use or intervention of agenfs 

27 



314 

or legislatures. So also, in their own original and ele ^^ 
mentary character, they have a right to fix upon the prin- 
ciples which shall guide and govern them in the decisions 
they shall ultimately make ; just as now, if they were about 
to appomt judges to act in their stead, which certainly 
they have the right to do, they would have the power to 
say, by what rules or principles their decisions should be 
governed. The judges themselves, and the principles of 
law which are to control them, are of right and of neces- 
sity, the creation of that power which has made both 5 
and any such judge having been created, has no power to 
make his own principles, unless the power that created 
him gives its consent, m some way or other. And further, 
if a judge have thus, by consent, made principles, which 
were agreeable to him ; but are not agreeable to the power 
in whose name he acts ; and who gave him his official 
being ; such power can prescribe other principles, for his 
government, and he must obey them. It is not to be said, 
that a whole community, acting in their original capacity, 
are not to be considered as judges. I quRrrel not about 
names ; for although it may be granted that judges are a 
less number, in the usual acceptation of the word, than the 
Community consist of, for whom they act; yet all are essen- 
tially so, too, in the case before us : though it is not com- 
mon to witness their actual existence. If any one doubt 
this, let him imagine that an entire community has appointed 
every man in it save one^ to be judges ; then would it be a 
part acting for the whole ; and so great a part as to make 
no appreciable difference, between such part and the 
whole. It is the fact of judging that constitutes a man a 
judge ; and it is the same fact of judging also, that con- 
verts a community into judges likewise. 

If then it is not to be disputed ^ thu.t the principles hy 
which the judges shall make up their opinions, as well fis 



315 

tlie judges themselves, are appointed, of right, by the Su- 
preme Power residing in the whole community ; so also is 
it not to be disputed, that such commun'ty or the succes- 
sors of such community, have the right to alter such prin- 
ciples, or to substitute them with entire new ones, when- 
ever ihey shall be of opinion, that these will be better 
adapted to do justice to each and every individual. There 
can be no obligation, of any force on any one, not to cor- 
rect mistakes ; not to make that better which is capable of 
it ; not to make that perfect, which we have the power in 
our hands to make so. To think otherwise ; to act other- 
wise ; would be to perpetuate error as a duty ; and to 
bar the road to all future improvement. 

It is evident, then, that the right exists in any and every 
community to^a; principles for their judges : the same right 
also exists in them to adopt the same principles themselves ; 
if they should think proper to dispense with judges and act 
for themselves. In the tirst case, the community, would 
order its judges to conform its decrees to certain princi- 
ples ; and this would be a Legislative function, wh i. er it 
were performed by the people, in their primary character ; 
or whether they elected agents and thus constituted a Le- 
gislatare with power to do so. In the second case, the 
whole people would blend both the Legislative aru^ the 
Judicial character in one ; and uniie. both the ;)'Structor 
and the instructed, the commander and he commanded, 
in the same political person : and would thus ulfil more 
certainly, and unequivocally its intentions, than it could do, 
by any agency whatever. 

Nor is it to be objected that the act of such community 
is not legal ; is not binding ; is not to be considered effica- 
cious, unless done in some specific form, time, or manner. 
Thus if, for example, a majority of this community — in 
whom all right and power belongs, by the perusal of this 



316 

work, at their firesides or elewhere, or by aoy other mean^ 
should become convinced that the present system of the 
fights of property, is actually hostile to, and destructive of, 
iheir true rights and interests, they would have the right, 
30 soon as they had ascertained their number in such a 
way as to assure the minority and themselves, that they 
u)ere such a majority, to order things otherwise, as to them 
should seem good, without delay. For it is no more to be 
required of a majority to abstain from takmg possession of 
their rights, when they shall see where they are, and how 
they caii command them, — than it is for a man meeting with 
his stolen or lost property, to refrain from taking it into his 
possession. In this State, however, from the circumstan- 
ces that all, or very nearly all our citizens, who are of the 
age of maturity, have the right of suffrage, without any 
diminution ; these, therefore, as soon us they see how to 
exercise it have the power to confer on themselves, the 
only right of which they have never been m possession — 
that is, the right of property. In other States and nations 
where they have not such full right, or perhaps have it not 
at all, there is a struggle to be made for two things at a 
time; th jt is, for suffrage and for property. But when 
men, in sufficient number, see that they have a right to 
the latter, they will not be long without both. Let me 
see mankind understand, each that his right to property is 
equal to thai of" any other man's ; and I engage to say, 
that the present state of things cannot exist one hour after 
they know that they have a majority of the same opinion. 
But the greatest obstacle which exists to the plan propo- 
sed, to claim all lands within the State, to whomsoever 
they may belong ; and to renounce all lands out of the 
State, whoever of our citizens may own them, arises from 
our connection with the Union as a member of the Confed* 
eracy. If the State stood alone, there would be no diffi- 



sn 

culty. For the uniform practice of most governments, is^ 
to refuse altogether, to allow any man to hold land who is 
not a citizen or subject. And as regards our own State, 
when we do not speak of our fellow citizens of the other 
States of the Union ; we may say that even now there are 
very few exceptions indeed ; and these arise from special 
permission granted by our Legislatures. I have no means 
near me of ascertaining the number of these exceptions ; 
but I have no doubt that nearly, and perhaps quite every one 
of them, would cease to be such by the operation of that part 
of Article 2. which orders every alien to be considered as a 
citizen, who shall have been resident for five years next 
previous to the time when the supposed General Division 
shall have been ordered. If he should foresee that such a 
Division was likely to take place, and should be averse to 
it ; so much so, as to be induced to leave the State, he 
could, no doubt, if he had them, dispose of his lands at 
some price or other ; but another citizen would not be more 
desirous to purchase them than he was to retain them, un- 
less, indeed, he approved of the proposed system ; and 
then it would be of little use for him to purchase. The 
alien owner would then find that it would be probably quite 
as well for him to acquiesce and become a citizen. If, 
indeed, he had much personal property, and this he should 
conclude it would be much better for him to depart with, 
and sacrifice, if it must be, his real property, he could even 
do so ; and there would be nothing to hinder him, although 
in strict matter of right and justice, there ought to be a 
power capable of restraining him. 

I said that the uniform practice of most governments is 
to refuse to allow lands to be held by any but citizens. If 
an alien wishes to hold land, he has only to become a citi» 
zen. This removes all difficulty with him or the State, 
In the discussion on the subject of the Salt Springs of this 

27* . 



318 

State, it is shown, that a man of large possessions ; in 
other words, a man of wealth, cannot be admitted to 
come into this State, and become a citizen, without dispos- 
sessing himself of all he has, over an amount equal to the 
patrimony for the time being ; unless, indeed, he comes 
from another State, where the equal rights of all to pro- 
perty are acknowledged, as it is proposed they shall be 
here ; and where, also, he has, on arriving at the age of 
maturity, received his patrimony. It is shown to be mani- 
festly dangerous to the rights of the citizens of this State, 
to allow of the influx of men who have acquired immense 
sums by the operation of unt^qual laws, in countries which 
tolerate their existence. It will be productive of quite 
evil enough here, to allow a man, who shall become rich, 
(perhaps by transactions in business with men who have 
amassed great sums, from the impure sources mentioned ;) 
and who have yet had only their equal portion to commence 
life with. But this it is better to tolerate, than to tolerate 
the greater evil of interfering with the acquisitions and 
plans of any man while living. 

Yet, notwithstanding all these apparent difficulties with 
which the subject is environed, they vanish when we ask a 
single question. Will the State of New- Jersey, for exam- 
ple, compel every citizen of New-York, holding real estate 
there, to surrender the same, or the value of it to the 
authority of this State, in order that it may inquire, who, 
among all our citizens, is or are the rightful owner or own- 
ers of it ? If they will, there can be no difficulty. Even- 
handed justice will be done. If New-Jersey, and so of 
any other State, will hand over to us all such property, 
within their limits, belonging to her citizens : we will hand 
over to her all such property, within our hmits, belonging 
to her citizens, subject to such disposition as that State 
may choose to make of it. 



319 

Let it not be forgotten^ that the true object of the revo- 
lution in this State, which it is proposed to bring about, is 
two-fold. First, to inquire as the State, or in lieu thereofj 
its citizens, have an unquestionable right to do, into the 
iitlegf by which every man holds, or pretends to hold, what 
he calls his property ; and second, if he hold too muchj 
and another too little, to order the excess to be given in 
such a manner as to supply the deficiency. But, it would 
be of no use, whatever, to make inquiry into these titles, 
if, after having decided adverse to their validity , we could 
not possess ourselves of the property held under them. It 
is, therefore, essentially necessary that the property be se° 
cured first, and inquiry be had afterwards. How, then, 
will the State of New-Jersey proceed to obtain for us so 
much real estate as belongs to our citizens, within her 
limits, on the supposition, that the people of this State have 
made up their minds, to make an equal division of pro» 
perty among them ? May not the citizen of New-York, 
seeing such an event approaching, if he own property in 
New-Jersey, convey it away, for example, to a citizen of 
the State in which this property is found ? If he does so, 
may he not either receive payment in money or bond ? If 
in money, an article of easy concealment, may it not, in 
many cases, oaths to the contrary notwithstanding, be hur- 
ried in the ground, and omitted in his inventory ? If it be 
a bond, it is a debt ; and as such, may be converted into 
money, and thus withheld from the State, when they shall 
afterwards demand it. So may he receive in payment for 
his property, or exchange for his bond, personal effects, 
such as shall be of easy concealment ; and thus would he 
possess the means of a future evasion of the commands of 
the State. I say future, because no demand for the pro- 
perty, as yet, is supposed to have been made. Again, 
might he not deed it away, by way of gift ? Yet, if the 



320 

people of this State, after due and deliberate investigation, 
should declare that it was not his to have given away, where 
would be our remedy ? Could the State of New- Jersey an- 
nul the gift ? Certainly not, under her present code of laws. 

Again, may not such property, in anticipation of an 
event, which many rich men will deprecate as an evil of 
the greatest magnitude, be conveyed away, through collu- 
sive judgments ? Will not counterfeit suits be brought into 
court, by unreal plaintiffs against unreal defendants, for the 
purpose of suffering, or rather causing conveyances of pro- 
perty to be made through the medium of false executions 
thus brought to bear against it ? How is the State of New- 
Jersey to be able to prevent these frauds ? Yet, if they be 
not prevented, it is certain that the property of our citizens 
in that State, would never come into the possession of the 
people of this State, to receive such investigation into the 
title by which the present holder claims it; as they have the 
undoubted right to make. 

But half the difficulty is not told yet. For if the State 
of New-York should undertake to inquire into the right of 
possession which each of its own citizens has, to what he 
may happen to possess ; it would be doing neither more 
nor less than what a whole people have, at any time, a right 
to do. So also, if the State of New-Jersey should happen 
to think that there was no occasion, within her limits, to 
make similar inquiry ; if her people should be satisfied that 
property was altogether in the hands of the rightful own^ 
ers, it would be competent also for that State to remain as 
she now is. 

But, in such an event, what might not happen ? Not 
only would it be impossible for the people of this State to 
come into the possession of what now actually belongs, in 
that State, to our citizens ; hut the entire soil of this whole 
State might pass into the hands of the citizens of other 



321 

States J Thus Lorillard might sell all his vast possessions 
to a citizen of New- Jersey ; and, if this State is DOt to touch, 
without full indemity, nor even perhaps with it, any pro- 
perty belonging to a citizen of another State, such a sim- 
ple procedure would take it out of our hands. Nay, even 
not so much as this would be requisite ; for the gentleman 
named would only have to remove his residence over to 
Jersey City, or to Hoboken ; and there become a citizen 
of that State. Van Hensellaer would only have to cross 
the line of Massachusetts into Berkshire county, or to 
choose his residence and citizenship wherever else he 
pleased, m any State but this ; and so of any other person. 
The State of New- Jersey, or any other State whatever^ 
could not prevent either these transfers of title, residence, 
or citizenship; for, inasmuch as by the first clause, in the 
second section, of the Fourth Article of the Constitution 
of the United States, " The citizens of each State shall be 
*' entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens 
*' m the several States," it is placed out of their power, if 
they were even desirous otdou.gso, to prevent so alarming 
an occurrence, 05 the transfer of the soil of an entire State 
out of the possession of its i ihabitants. 

There is no question to be ma<ie, that the people of each 
State, as a sovereign State, !iave fall jurisdiction over their 
own concerns; that, amon^ others, the rights of property 
held by its own citizens, are, with them, legitimate and 
proper subjects of inquiry ; and consequent upon such in- 
quiry, they have the ngiit to make su«:h disposition of it^ 
as in their opinion, Irue justice demand- and requires : and 
yet, if the present holders of properv should apprehend 
that the inquiry, which they will not have the power to hin- 
der from beinff made, should result in showing that they 
had no just title to any, but a very small portion of what 
'bey actually holds and that the excess would be taksra 



322 

ijom them ; they would have nothing to do ; but, before 
the inquiry is terminated, to sell tlieir property to a citizen 
of another State ; or to transfer their citizenship thither, 
to evade as effectually the full and legitimate power of the 
State, as if it were written on the pages of the Constitu- 
tion of the United States : *' No State shall manage its own 
internal concerns." Such, certauily, was never intended 
to be the meaning of that instrument. For if such had 
been the case, the present State Government would not 
have existed. They w ould have been abolished, and super- 
seded by one Gerjeral Government, providing for the legis- 
lative wants of the whole nation. And in such an event, 
the proposition ^vhich I now m^ke to the people of this 
State, through the medium of this Work, would have 
been presented to the people of this whole Union, for their 
consideration and adoption. 

Thus, if it shall appear that this State, for example, is 
under a necessity to declare, in substance, that allthepro- 
perty found within its Innits. is the property of the State, it 
is because, unless it shall do so, not oniy the property now 
belonging to our citizens out of the State, mil be lost to it; 
but likewise all the property within it, would pass into the 
hands of persons who live without our limits ; and over 
whom, of course, we could have and exercise no control. 
To undertake, therefore, to investigate tie rights of pro- 
perty, in this State, under such circumstances, with an in- 
tention to divide it equally, if it s! ould be determined that 
such is the rule, which secures to every man his just right, 
would be the idle task of folly ; fbr it wou.d only be to de- 
clare that an equal division .-should be made of all property, 
7i}hen it would appear that there would be none remaining to 
divide. 

Men who understand their rights, are not, therefore, to 
be deluded into any frustration of their efforts to possess 



them, by pursuing a course so inefficient, as that of al» 
temptifig, under the circumstances before us, to obtain 
them , and, at the same time, to give to citizens of other 
States, the possession or value therefor, of that property 
which they now hold within our limits. 

But it will be asked, since there are already qitizens, in 
Other States, who own property in this, may it not be per- 
mitted to them to receive their equal share among us, as 
citizr^ns, whenever such division shall take place ; and to 
give them such share in consideration of the property they 
now hold ? Let us look at this proposition. Let us look, 
indeed, at every step we take, when we go to arrest prop» 
erty ; for it is such a Protean being, that it is no easy thing 
to get it within our grasp. And landed property, since if 
is invested, by the qualities which a piece of parchment 
confers, with that transmissible character, which belongs, 
more naturally to moveable property, is as easy to be kept 
out of our possession, as a guinea, which may be buried in 
the earth, where none can find it but he who placed it 
there. 

Thus, then, suppose it to be announced, that the plan 
of accomplishing the proposed division, is such that citi- 
zens of other States, owning land in this, should, when the 
division is consummated, be considered as entitled to their 
equal share with our citizens, of the property of the State. 
What, then, would not happen ? The moment there was 
any thing like, what would by many be considered, a dan- 
gerous probability, of the occurrence of such an event, 
would not very large estates, here, be sold, in very small 
portions, for large purchasers, could not then be expected 
to be found, (otherwise, large owners would not wish to 
sell,) to numerous citizens, of other States, for the double 
purpose, of giving them patrimonies in our soil and other 
property on the one hand ; and of enabling our property 



324 

lioiders, especially those on a large scale, to make theif 
investsments in other States. Thus Lorrillard, or Rut- 
gers could sell out their houses and other property to 
multitudes of purchasers ; the proceeds might be laid out 
in Philadelphia, Boston, or elsewhere ; and they thus re- 
tain possession of their entire estates. These purchasers 
would come in and share with us. and as many of them 
might not be expected to have their present notions of 
property eradicated ; they would very naturally look upon 
such a proceeding as affording a fine speculation ; more 
especially as, in the General Division which I am suppo- 
sing to take place, these persons as well as any and every 
other would be enabled to bid for and retain their share, 
wholly in personal property ; and with this, after the divi- 
sion was completed, could reiire with it from the State. 
The result of such an operation would be, not indeed to 
transfer our real property out of the State ; for, luckily, it 
cannot be carried away ; but a very great portion, if not 
the whole, of the personal ; and, that, for the purpose of 
enabling the present possessors, to transfer their posses- 
sions to other States ; and thus to take it out of the hands 
of those, who alone have the right to say what disposition 
shall be made of it. No one need say, how calamitous it 
would be, for the people of this State, by such, or any such :, 
operation, to see themselves stripped of every thing in 
the shape of personal property. It would be little less than 
to restore the soil again to the condition of a wilderness. 
It would not meet the objections that rise up against 
such a proposition to say, that every foreign citizen shall 
have purchased to an amount equal to the dividend, which 
he shall receive, even if such a provision itself were prac- 
ticable. For as the amount of bis purchase is paid into 
the hands, not of the community, but of him who is selling 
his property in order to evade the anticipated decree of . 



325 

this community, it therefore avails the receiver of the 
amount so given by the purchaser, to lay it out again, in 
other States ; where it would be out of our control. If it 
is to be supposed that such receiver would be honest 
enough to give up to the community, the avails of the sale, 
it is also to be supposed that he would be honest enough 
not to sell his property for the purpose of disobeying the 
commands of the public authority, even by way of antici- 
pation. But it is in favor of the dishonest, that such a 
provision would operate ; and to the prejudice of the com- 
munity ; and, therefore, it is not to be allowed on any 
account whatever. 

And here perhaps it is as proper, as it may be elsewhere, 
to observe, that, if one thing only could be supposed to 
exist, it would be better at once to admit, of the immediate 
influx into our State, of great numbers of poor men from 
other States and nations ; and also to a full participation 
of patrimonies, with us, in the first instance. The objec- 
tion to such a practice is chiefly in this. Their notions would 
be likely to be what they now are, with respect to pro- 
perty : they would imagine it to be the best course for 
them to obtain what would in such case be coming to 
them ; this, they would be sure to take, in moveable pro- 
perty, and when they had so obtained it, would leave the 
State, and go to others, where they might enjoy it, upon 
principles such as have resulted in making them the op- 
pressed portion of the human race, which they now are. 
Strange as such a procedure would be, it is nevertheless 
not more so, than it is now, to see, much the greater part 
of all nations, sitting quietly down, in their own degrada- 
tion, misery, and wretchedness, and never once thinking 
for themselves, that tkeir right to property is as good, is 
as genuine, is as worthy of reclaiming or defending by 
argument or by the sword, as any right, for the acquis! 

28 



326 

tion, protection, and enjoyment of which, any man, or any 
nation of men, have ever shed blood ! 

If, however, on the contrary, they could come with en- 
lightened views of their own happiness ; and of that of their 
posterity ; there would be no limit to their admission in 
very considerable numbers, but the quantity of personal 
property, which will be found in the State, whenever a 
General Division shall take place. There is of course a 
limit to the subdivision of this ; beyond which if we go, at 
the first settmg out, of the new system, the effect pro- 
duced, would be, to diminish the quantity of the results of 
cur subsequent industry. The soil, however, of the State, 
is ample enough. The late Do Witt Clinton, if I recol- 
lect aright, estimated it as being capable, even under pre- 
sent modes of employing industry, talents and resources, 
where every thing that is good, great, generous or useful, 
is paralytic, with the oppressions, which inordinate wealth 
inflicts upon it, of supporting fourteen millions of people. 
How happy for the State, would it not be, if we could 
rapidly approach what to him appeared as a maximum, 
but which undoubtedly is very far from being such. 

As the ideas of men now are, and as they may be ex* 
pected to be, in nations, where the principles of this work, 
have not, and shall not have been made known, whenever 
the time shall arrive that this or tiny other State is about 
to adopt the system of government marked out in it, such 
State will find itself under the necessity of fixing a time, 
afler which no immigrant citizen or foreigner can be enti- 
tled to receive a patrimony. The citizens will be allowed 
to comCi without restriction ; but inasmuch as it cannot be 
known whether they have come for the purpose, of iden- 
tifying themselves with the future destinies of the State ; 
or of carrying away a patrimony ; such patrimony cannat 



327 

be given them. If they remain, however, their children 
will be citizens and be entitled accordingly. 

The proposition, therefore, recurs ; if another State can 
and will give up to our governing authority all the pro- 
perty it has within its limits, belonging to our citizens ; 
this State will also do the same as regards property in its 
possession, belonging to thdr citizens. If she cannot do 
it ; is it to be expected, that we must forbear to exercise 
those rights of sovereignty over our own affairs, which in- 
herently belong to us, as much as theirs belong to them, 
merely because we cannot separate whatever truly belongs 
to them, from what truly belongs to us ; and because we 
cannot obtain from them what they also have of ours in 
their possession ? Must the rights of more than a million 
and a half of human beings belonging to this State, go 
unattended to ; must they he withheld from them, because 
a most contemptible fraction of this number, have, by the 
sanction which this State gave to the United States Con» 
stitution, some forty years ago, been allowed to own land' 
ed property in this State ? Did the framers of such a Con- 
stitution, contemplate such a construction of it, that no 
State government would be allowed to make such laws 
regarding property, as should suit themselves ? Did it 
mean to say, that a State should not pass a law. for ex- 
ample, that no citizen should own over 500 acres of land, 
if it happened that previous to the passage of such a law, 
some citizen of another State, should accidentally happen 
to own, in this, more than that quantity ? 

If not, then would such State have the right to pass 
such law ; and the native or resident citizen, would be 
obliged to make sale of the overplus. So also, if the State, 
instead of fixing at 500 acres, as did the Roman Agrarian 
Law ; should fix the quantity of land at such a number of 
acres, that all would have an equal share, would it not b^ 



328 

competent for the State to do so ? All that the Constitu- 
tion of the United States requires* is that the citizens of 
another State may enjoy the same rights as native or resi- 
dent citizens. It may be contended, perhaps, that on this 
principle, the citizen of another State, while his property 
went into the General Division, should also have his patri- 
mony ; and that against this, I have made strong opposi- 
tion. But 1 will cease this opposition, whenever other 
States shall do the same by our citizens. Besides, in an- 
swer to this ; I may moreover make two replies ; one ; 
that no man has title to patrimony on the ground of put- 
ting property into the general division ; for this patrimony 
is not a thing to be purchased — but belongs to each and 
every citizen of a State, in virtue of his existence : and 
another is ; that this State also, as a State, has its rights 
in the other State ; that is to say, it has the right to have 
possession of that property of our citizens which is there, 
within their hmits ; and which I have §hown (under exist- 
ing circumstances) cannot be commanded by the entire 
power of that State, even if it should desire it ; and for the 
simple reason, that it cannot ascertain where it is and in 
what it consists. If this could be ascertained, it could be 
given up ; and its amount would be known. But as it 
cannot be ascertamed ; then it is but fair to presume, that 
it may be at least equal to that which we, in our own 
State, retain in satisfaction and lieu thereof. 

But if the State of New-York, has rights, in relation for 
example, to the State of New- Jersey, they are at least 
equal to those which the State of New-Jersey has in rela- 
tion to them ; so that, if this State may not retain, or lay 
claim to the disposal of real estate, within our limits, be- 
longing to citizens of New-Jersey : so may not the State 
of, New-Jersey retain or keep possession of the similar 
property of our citizens, within her territory ; and if she 



329 

does so keep possession t whether from inability to do other- 
wise, or from whatever other cause it may be ; so also 
may we, in return, do the same. Nor would the Supreme 
Court of the United States, in such a case as this, be able 
to afford the citizen of New-Jersey any remedy, because it 
is not a case in which any violation of the laws of Con- 
gress is involved ; wherein the rights of such citizen could 
be investigated without any reference to the State of which 
he might be a member : but it would be that particular 
kind of case which may justly come before this Court, 
wherein the only question to be decided is, do the two 
States, New- York and New- Jersey, for example, in the 
exercise of their individual rights of state-sovereignty, act, 
and re-act equally upon each other. Thus, it would have 
to ascertain a simple fact ; does one State appropriate 
another's property, existing in the right of its citizens : 
and does the other do more ? In the case before us, like 
is given for like, for aught that appears, or can be made 
to appear, to the contrary, and the decision of the Court 
could not fail to be, that under the circumstances, each 
party must be left to the full and undisputed exercise of its 
own sovereignty. 

If further confirmation of the position assumed for the 
the Supreme Court were wanting, it may be found in this. 
That the Constitution of the United States is the result of 
a Convention of States, and not of the population of 
which they are composed. Thus, if New- York has been 
compelled to allow the citizens of New-Jersey to own lands 
within its limits at all, it has been in consequence of the 
compact made between the States by that convention, and 
afterwards sanctioned, not by a majority of the |3eopZe, but 
by a majority of the States. If the State of New- Jersey 
has also been compelled to suffer a like ownership of lands 
within its own territories, by'citi^ens of New-York,it has beew 



330 

under the operation of a similar necessity. If now, with 
regard to either of these States, wholly within the sove- 
reignty which belongs to it, a case arises, in which it is 
necessary for one of them, to call home the property of its 
citizens ; is it to be said, in behalf of the State which re- 
fuses or neglects to surrender it up, that it may have its 
full rights in the other State, .in manner the same as if it 
had made the surrender ? The individual citizen, or citi- 
zens of such State, so refusing to surrender the property 
belonging to citizens of another State, could they come 
into Court, and claim that their rights, fractions as they 
are of the State to which they belong, should be held of 
more consideration than the whole adverse State itself? A 
State, too, which was one of the parties, to the Great Com- 
pact of the Union ; whereas the individuals in question, 
iare wholly unknown as such ? It is impossible. If such ci- 
tizens are injured, it is their own State which has done it, 
by not giving up to a neighboring State, that property 
which such State has as go<.o a right to demand, as their 
own State has to demand theirs. 

Thus far have I argued the question of power existing 
in this State, or any other State, to take the method I have 
proposed, of bringing about a General Division of Proper- 
ty ; whenever they shall be convinced, that it belongs to 
to their rights, their interests, and their happiness, to do 
so ; in order that I might have the opportunity of show- 
ing, as well that it iS consistent with our obligations of 
duty to the Union, as that it is impossible for it to be done 
in any other manner. I trust that both are established to 
the full satisfaction of the reader. I have chosen to de- 
fend the right of this State, to make such modification of 
its internal government as I am recommending, without 
any necessity to be felt on its part, to wait for, or consult 
other members of the Confederacy, before they should un- 



331 

dertake to build up the edifice of their own happiness. If 
then, such right is manifest, standing alone, and single- 
handed, as it were, in the cause, with all the relations by 
which she is connected with other States and the world ; 
how much more manifest would such right appear, if she 
might hope for co-op^eration from her sister States ? And 
yet it is not to be admitted for a moment, that if our con- 
nection with the Union inti^rfered with our own internal 
arrangements, so as to prevent us from giving to our citi- 
zens, to each, what we think belongs to him ; it would be 
fully competent to us, to break off all such connection as 
was made by our ancestors ; these latter having no just 
power to bind us to sacrifice what to us shall appear to 
belong to our own rights and our own welfare. 

Thus, if it has •'been found an impossibility injustice, or 
any thing like it, to ourselves, or to others, to accomplish 
our object, without, in the first place, renouncing all our 
external property, so to call it, and without claiming all 
within our borders ; to renounce all debts ; and to refuse 
all credits : how do the difficulties vanish, when any two or 
more States combine, at one and the same time, to accom- 
plish the same result ? The rights of man are the same 
every wti :e ; the same for the people of New-Jersey as 
for the people of New- York. If, then, it should happen 
that they should awake to such a sense of their rights as to 
order tl.e creation of such a state of things, as I ardently 
wish to see established every where ; at the same time, 
that this State should ; and both should go on together, 
each to reform its own social system ; it would lighten 
much the labors of both. For, then, if it should be de- 
sired, if it should be thought more consonant with the prin- 
ciples of justice, than otherwise it would be ; then might 
each State give up to the other the property of its own 
citizens ; fo? then, neither territory would be a land for 



332 

fraud, cunning, knavery, and perjury to flee to, as thieves 
fly to receptacles of stolen goods, or unworthy debtors to 
distant and unknown countries to avoid their creditors. 
For either of these cases apply with great force and ener- 
gy to men, who, with vast possessions now, which they 
have once and always thought, perhaps, were their own, 
have, nevertheless, no honest title to it, more than the thief 
who has stolen his property, or the debtor who owes his 
creditor, and who runs away from him, so soon as he flnds 
he is in pursuit of him. What better is the man, than a 
thief, who, thinking, perhaps, for a long course of time, 
that what he happens to possess, is truly his own ; yet ne- 
vertheless not his ; and yet strives to appropriate it to his 
own use, and detain it from the lawful owner, after he 
knows where and who he is ? Thus a man may, by inheri- 
tance, perhaps, obtain property from his ancestor ; and 
among it, without his knowledge, there may be a quantity 
of stolen property ; the owner may be made known to 
him ; and the fact of ownership be estabhshed. If he, 
therii keep it from the lawful owner, and appropriate it, or 
attempt to appropriate it, to his own use, does he not steal, 
or attempt to steal it, for the second time ? And ought he 
not to be punished as the first thief would have been, had 
he been apprehended ? 

So when men in society awake to an understanding, or 
are beginning to awake to an understanding of their right 
to property ; if we shall see the possessors of it, flying in 
every direction, to escape the doom that is approaching, 
endeavoring, in every manner possible, to put it out of the 
power of the community, to repossess themselves of 
that wealth, whatever it is, which is the common pro- 
perty of all ; it will be what we have good reason to ex- 
pect to see ; but how little diflerent will such men appear 
to be from those vile malefactors who now daily march to 



the gallows, for crimes of not half the enormity ? For ma- 
ny of the acts of such malefactors are but the acts of repri- 
sal, which the present unjust sysiem of appropriating and 
transferring property, has rendered it necessary, in their 
opinion, for the perpetrators to commit ; acts, which never 
would have been committed, but ior the denial of the first 
and most important right which man possesses, that of his 
right to property. 

When the period appi oaches, if it ever shall approach, 
for the realization of the views contained in this Work, 
every artifice will be resorted to, to defeat or delay them ; 
and one the most likely to occur, is, the proposition to 
adopt the system in part. But, as Thomas Pained has 
somewhere observed ; '' there is no such thing as half 
right and half wrong ;" and whoever thinks there is, when 
he awakes to a discovery of the real truth, will find that 
every half-right and half wrong sysiem, is h system which 
is wrong altogether. Thus, of what use would it be to 
say, that a General Division, throughout the State, of all 
the property it contains, should not be made ; but that the 
system herein proposed, of transmitting property to posteri- 
ty, should be carried into operation ? Is it to be said that the 
poor have not been enslaved long enough yet ? Must Lo- 
rillard retain possession of his five millions, in order that the 
poor, if he shall yet five fifteen years longer, may be com- 
pelled to add five millions more to it, for his use instead 
of creating this wealth for themselves ? And if he be yet to 
live other fifteen years, must these same poor swell these 
ten miUions to twenty millions, by the sweat of their brows, 
when all this increase of wealth is honestly their own, and 
ought never to be his ? 

If a General Division is not to be made, such is the eflect 
that is sure to follow. Besides, the evil will not terminate 
with his lifetime j at least such will not be the fact gene- 



334 

rally. For, as property which is not money, may yet be 
converted into money ;. so will it be ; and if a man, with 
the present erroneous views of his right to property, is not 
permitted, in his lifetime, to make a will, which will be 
vaUd after his death ; he may yet, although against the 
law of the land, and no doubt, would, (I speak generally,) 
secretly and clandestinely give it away to his favorites, chil- 
dren or others, in his lifetime. These, again, would con- 
tinue to act with it, so as to increase it in a similar manner 
out of the labors of the poor ; and thus would the causes 
which now curse the earth with calamities be perpetuated, 
to an indefinite period of time. Whereas now, if we rip 
all up, and make a full and General Division, Lorillard, 
any more than any other man, would have nothing to spare, 
for the purpose of giving away ; none would need it, if he 
had ; and although he would seem to be very poor, indeed, 
compared to what he now is ; yet, he would be as near the 
alms-house himself, as any and every one of his fellpw- 
citizens, but no nearer. 

Nor is it improbable that holders of much smaller for* 
tunes, although far above what will probably be the 
amount of the patrimony heretofore spoken of, would find 
it much more to their interest, than they at first thought 
may imagine, to insist upon the levelling of their Colossal 
neighbors. Every day furnishes evidence of the ease with 
which capitals of from one to five or ten millions, swallow up 
and appropriate to themselves, other capitals of thirty, fifly, 
or a hundred thousand : so that the very precarious tenure, 
by which their small fortunes are held, ought to be an ad- 
monition to those who hold them, to accept of a smaller 
amount, when it can be held by a tenure altogether secure. 
In the pecuniary world, it is much the same as it is in the 
vegetable ; large umbrageous trees overshadow those 
which are smaller, and prevent their growth. Independ 



335 

ent, therefore, of every consideration of right, due iD 
any and every fellow being around us, the possessors of 
smaller fortunes, have an undoubted interest in pulling 
down those which are larger. 

There are those who do not look far enough into the 
nature of the reasons for this first and General Division of 
property, to refrain from saying, «*that it seems unjust to 
'* take what they have acquired from those who began the 
" world with nothing, and divide it among their fellow 
** citizens ;" and to these it may be said, that it seems so, 
indeed. But this is all. There is no hardship, no injus- 
tice in the matter, whatever. The truth is, the whole 
world, and all that it contains, is a vast estate, and all man- 
kind are the heirs. It has happened, no matter how, it has 
happened, that a few of the heirs have got all the property 
into their own hands. If now an heir, who, at one time, 
had none of this vast estate, succeeded in getting any por^ 
tion of itj he must have obtained it from those who had it. 
and not from those who had it not. He obtained it, there- 
fore, from those who had usurped it, both from himself and 
others. If afterwards, by any use which he could or did 
make of that which he obtained in the first instance he suc- 
ceeded in greatly increasing it ; he in his turn has become 
an usurper of the rights of others, inasmuch as he retains 
from them what belongs to them ; and these others will not 
fail to call upon him to surrender. They will say to him, 
** We are heirs, in common with you, in this great estate. 
** We have been deprived, till this moment, by you and 
*' others, of our right : whereas, if we had bad it,w^ also could 
" have made money for ourselves as well as you. But we 
-' did not happen to stand in the same fortunate relation in 
" which you did, to those, or any of them, who robbed us 
^' both, or who, at least, became possessed, of our birth- 
^ right ; and, therefore, we have remained poor and 



33a 

^' wretched, slaves to you and others, and dependent on 
*« you and them for our very existence. Nevertheless, the 
<' the estate is as much ours as it is yours, and your fel- 
« lows' ; and, inasmuch as you have held it from us, you 
'< must now restore it, with ail the profit you have made 
'« on it ; (such is even the law of the land now in similar 
'« cases,) and we will begin life noir, as it ought to have 
'« been begun at first." 

Perhaps a diagram will give force to these reflections, 
and tend to make more visible than can otherwise be done, 
the injustice of the title by which those who are rich pre- 
tend to hold what they call their own, and on the strength 
of which they undertake to resist all attempts to take it 
away. But the history of all countries, shows two import- 
ant facts ; 1st. That the property of the globe, or portions 
thereof, has never been equally divided among all ; and 
2dly. That it has not been transmitted equally to the suc- 
ceeding generations. Now either of these events having 
never happened, all title property, is vitiated and worth- 
less from the very beginning ; and, therefore has no va- 
lidity or justice in it, down even to this very moment. 
Thus the accompanying square, A, B, C, D, may re- 
present the whole surface of the globe, and, for the con- 
venience of argument, we will imagine the qujilitv of its 
soil, to be equal in value, in all its parts. 



3S7 





!_ 


No. 3. 


No. 1. 






■ 










' 


No. 4. 


No. 2. 



B 



D 



C 



Allowing now, that there were, for example, ten thou 
sand equal human beings, upon the surface of this square, 
previous to its being subdivided ; what enormous injustice, 
would not be perpetrated, if, by any means whatever, one 
man only, should take to himself the portion of territory 
marked " No. 1 ;" another " No. 2 ;" a third «' No. 3 ;" 
and a fourth *' No. 4 ;" the remainder having nothing. If 
the whole territory were divided equally and properly 
among them ; he who now is supposed to own *' No. 1" 
would have, for example, the small square near B, and n'o 
more, for his own equal portion ; whereas, by possessing 
himself of the whole of the large square marked '* No. 1" 
he has actually much, very jmuch more than belongs tb 
him. Those who have none are obhged to hire of him. 
They pay him for the use of that very soil, which does not 
belong to him.- and which does belong ta themselves^ 

29 



338 

With what he receives in payment, for this hire, or rent, 
he builds houses and ships, and buys goods, wares, and 
merchandize ; in one word becomes wealthy, and able to 
command, as it were, the lives and services of his fellow- 
beings. But if he had no right to that large portion of 
soil, in the first instance, he had no right to receive rent 
from others, for its use ; having no right to these rents, he 
can have no right to the property, to the wealth they pur- 
chased for him ; having no right to what he purchased, 
he has no right to retain it ; and, having no right to that 
large quantity of soil in the original instance, he has 
no right to convey it away to others ; and if such 
others, have it in possession, they may, and must of right 
be dispossessed of it. And if any one of those who origi- 
nally had nothing should succeed in obtaining an unequal 
portion of property from any of the four, who may have 
had the first possession of the earth, or from their succes- 
sors, neither has he any better title, than if he had been 
one of the number among the first monopolists. For al- 
though he may contend, that he has exercised unwearied 
industry to acquire it, and therefore, has obtained a just 
title, still it is to be said of him, that the wealth which was 
offered to his acquisition, and which stimulated that un- 
wearied industry, was not his who offered it ; but belonged 
to others. It would be as unjust to allow such person to 
hold title under such circumstances, as it would under the 
present order of things, to allow a man to receive or retain, 
as a reward for his industry, stolen property, the posses- 
sions of a pirate, and what not, the offer of which had sti- 
mulated him also to a high degree of activity. But in 
addition to this original unequal appropriation of property, 
its transmission to posterity has also ever been unequal, 



339 

and this doubly annihilates all title to property as now 
held among mankind.* 

Nor let this rich possessor complain, that under the 
hope and receipt of rich rewards for his labors, he has 
labored more than sufficient to sustain his own existence ; 
and, therefore, he ought to retain more than his equal 
share : so also have the great mass of those who are now 
and ever have been poor, labored, a< Zea^f, to the same 



* As an instance of the original distribution of the soil 
of the State of New- York, having been so enormously un- 
just and unequal in principle as my diagram, and its accom- 
panying remarks supposes, I offer, amidst much more of a 
similar character \vhich I might oiFer, the following extracts 
to the consideration of the reader, as they appear in Mrs. 
Grant's "Memoirs of an American Lady," &c. p. 6. 

"After the necessary precaution of erecting a small stock- 
** aded fort for security, a church was built in the centre of 
"the intended town, [Albany], which served in different 
" respects as a kind of land-mark. A gentleman of the 
" name of Renssellaer was considered as in a manner lord 
"paramount of this city. A pre-eminence which his suc- 
** eessor still enjoys both with regard to the town and the 
" lands adjacent. The original proprietor, having obtaiucd 
" from the High and Mighty Slates [of Holland] a grant o 
"lands, which, beginning at the church, eictended twelve 
^^ miles in every direction, forming a manor of twenty-foui* 
" Dutch miles in length, the same in breadth, including 
" lands not only of the very best quality of any in the pro- 
" vince, but the most happily situated both for the purpose of 
" commerce and agriculture.^^ A tract equal to more than 
three hundred thousand acres, (and more than one hun- 
dredth part of the whole State,) to which, if there be any 
truth in the principles of this work, the grantee had, and of 
course the present possessor has, (even if derivation from 
his ancestor were good for any thing,) no more of just tit!§ 
than one man has to the right arm of another I 



340 

extent, even without the solace of such reward ; and these, 
surely, on the same principle, ought to have more also. 
But if both of these positions be true, then would the rich ; 
those who have never labored at all, be called upon to 
take less ; nay, to be deprived even of possessions alto- 
gether. But would this be right ? Is it fair to charge all 
the evils of the past upon the few ; when the many, if they 
had only understood their rights, and how to have secured 
them, could have claimed them at any moment ; and no 
one could have resisted with any effect ? The fact is, 
both have wandered in errors, the one in supposing their 
rights to be greater than they actually were ; and the other 
in believing them less. But evils which are done already 
cannot be undone. If they could, we could go to the 
graves of the rich, of past ages, and awake them ; we 
could awake also the poor who slumber near them ; and 
say to the one, *' the enjoyments, in which during your 
" life-times you rioted, were afforded to you at the ex- 
'' pense of the toils of these your brethren, who spent their 
'' lives in labour for you ; now in return, therefore, per- 
'* form ye also, for them, an equal amount of toil, and let 
'^' them enjoy it at your expense. Then will justice be re- 
'•' established between you." But this is not to be done, 
any mOre than it is that the portion of the evils, of the pre- 
vailing system, which afflicts the present generation, is to 
be remedied by any other means, than that of making a 
full, and equal, and general division. To do otherwise, 
would be to commence the new system, by incorporating 
with it, a principle of inequaUty, which in the old has been 
the only and fertile source of all the misery and wretched^ 
ness which now afflict the human race. 

Let no one undertake to say, that both rich and poor 
have understood their rights ; and that the latter, for pur- 
poses which have seemed good to them ; have abandoned 



341 

their right to property, by entering into a state of society. 
Society has ever had its origin in very different principles. 
Besides, all men, existing since government was Jirst iii^ 
stituted, enter society without any consent of their own. 
But admitting for a moment, that they did so abandon in 
the first instance ; such abandonment could affect only 
those who did abandon ; it could not affect others. The 
present generation, therefore, have the right, to claim, that 
for themselves which is their own, and which no one has 
the right to abandon for them. Besides, since govern- 
ment began, show me the instance where it has offered, to 
any of its citizens or subjects, property, either in his own 
right, or otherwise, and where it has been rejected^ and 

the point, so far as this mstance goes, shall be yielded - 

But such an event never happened. And all that has been 
urged in this way, has been calculated and intended, no 
doubt, to make the poor rest as quiet and contented as 
possible with their miserable condition. 

Nor is it to be said, that the various occupations of life are 
such that some have more need of their original right of pro- 
perty, or rather its artificial siibsiitute, than others. This is 
not true. The engraver, the^pin-maker, the physician, and 
many others apparently need it less. But do they not require 
houses to live in ? Are they not surrounded with wants^ 
which this artificial substitute would enable them to sup« 
ply, even if they required no stock, no material, before re- 
turns for their industry and skill can come in ? Besides, if yoix 
dispossess them of their equal right, you place them in cir- 
cumstances of dependence, such that others, who, thereby, 
will have, of course, more than they are entitled to, will 
exercise over them the means of reducing them to slavery. 
So much as it regards occupations and pursuits reqniring^ 
small capital ; and as to those requiring large capitals, these 
will be acquired by proper associations. They, (herefow 

g9=^ 



342 

and others, and all, are entitled to receive what belongs to 
them, without any abatement or evasion whatever. 

Another method of accomplishing the adoption of the 
new System in party will be to propose exceptions ; and 
one the most likely to be proposed, is ^hat of exempting 
Churches and Church property irom the Great Public 
Sale. But let it be remembered that the vast amount of 
property which these institutions possess, has been drawn 
from the same iniquitous system which has robbed man of 
his rights for ever ; that without such system, a kw indi- 
viduals could not, as they have done, have built gorgeous 
temples, at an expense of two or three hundred thousand 
dollars, and added thereto, further, and immense posses- 
sions. By the same rule that others may be deprived of 
that which never justly belonged to them, may these 
be compelled also to give up that which is not their own, 
into the hands of those to whom it belongs. ** Let, then, 
the scythe of equahty move over the republic ;" and when 
it has done so — when it has levelled all foolish and facti- 
tious and oppressive distinctions — then, let all men stand 
equal before themselves and their Creator. If» at such a 
time, any human being, or beings shall think that their 
duty to the Being who they believe has made them, re- 
quires, at their hands, the purchase of magnificent temples, 
in which to offer up to him their devotions, it will be per 
fectly competent for them to do so ; and they may buy 
accordingly, with the dividend which belongs to them as 
their equal portion ; but to suffer them to have such tem- 
ples, at the expense of others ^ would not comport with the 
principles of honesty ; much less of piety ; and is, there- 
fore, to be tloerated on no condition whatever, among a 
people who know what their rights are ; and who are de- 
termined to have them, and the tt?Ao/eof them, without any 



343 

abatement whatever, at whatever hazard they may require 
at their hands. 

"Nor let the man of true piety be alarmed at this. Let 
him recollect that true devotion resides in the heart of man, in 
the sincere homage which it pays to the divinity ; and that 
it does not consist in splendid pageantry displayed in mag- 
nificent buildings, the work of men's hands ; and that if it 
be not found in the lives and bosoms of men, it is to be 
found no where, at all. All else is but one gilded scene 
of hypocrisy ; unworthy of public respect ; obnoxious to the 
disapprobation of the Divinity ; and certainly unentitled 
to retain any property but such as strictly and equally be- 
longs to itself and to all. 

It may seem that I have been unnecessarily severe in my 
suppositions, of the extent of that moral depravity which 
would, as all must see, prevail to thwart the wishes of the 
great mass of the community, if there were any possi- 
bility of its exercising itself. But those who are capable 
of making any such objection, have only to consider, that 
the whole property, for example, of this State, real and 
personal, on supposition, might be wholly owned by one 
man, and that he might have two millions of tenants under 
him. If he were allowed to make disposition of it, out of 
the State ; it is apparent, on the face of such a transaction, 
that these two millions of human beings must still continue 
to remain without possession of any kind whatever. So, 
if there were, taking the whole State together, some dozen, 
fifty, or five hundred large proprietors, the same princi- 
ples of defeat, to all the designs of the community, would 
exist. Perhaps it might not exist, to the same extentj 
when there should be many of these large proprietors, as 
when that number should be smaller, and possessing, per- 
haps, a greater aggregate amount. The evil does not con- 
sist, however, so much in the number of the evil-doers^ as 



344 

it docs in the amount of mischief, which even a very few of 
them may be able to perpetrate. Thus one rich, but guilty 
villain, would be able, under some circumstances, to trans- 
fer, out of the power of the State, more than would fall to 
the lot of a thousand, or ten thousand bemgs, certainly 
much belter than himself could pretend to be, stained with 
such a crime as I have imagined him to be guilty of. It 
would be easy to show, how, among other methods, such 
a transfer could take place, in case of the State agreeing 
to pay all debts due from our citizens to others ; and as- 
suming to itself all the credits belonging to them. False 
debts, for false considerations, and to an immense amount, 
in all the forms, that law could possibly prescribe, would 
not fail to be presented, in such a manner, that the agents 
of the State {^perhaps themselves corrupted^ could not pos- 
sibly reject them. 1 hese false debts, easily amounting to 
millions, without exciting suspicion, especially when we 
consider the extensive commercial connections which this 
State maintains with other States and nations, would easi- 
ly be saddled upon our people ; and they would have no 
alternative. Abolish all debts, however ; renounce all 
property abroad, except such ships, and their property on 
board, as may accidentally be absent ; and then claim all 
within our limits, wherever found ; and to whomsoever be- 
longing ; unless it belong to alien residents and transient 
owners ; impose high penalties for evasion, omission, con- 
cealment, or other species of crime whereby a man gains, 
or attempts to gain more than his proper share ; just as 
now grand larceny, and other similar crimes, are punish- 
ed ; and then, and then only, can a just and equal division 
be brought about ; or so nearly so, (although some conceal- 
ments will take place, such as that of money, d^c.,) as to be 
productive of all the practical good, which it is to be ex- 
pected such a division will produce. Every thing being 



345 

at home, and every man, woman, and child, having an in- 
terest in suppressing every species of unfair dealing ; in 
bringing to light all concealments, or attemps at con- 
cealment, and punishing the offenders ; every counting- 
house, having its clerks, apprentices, and agents, equal 
in interest with their employer ; every factory ; every 
work-shop with its hands ; all the laborers, who know 
every thing about the property upon which they labor 5 
but of no part of which they can now call themselves 
the master ; all these, and more, will be so many spies 
upon the wealthy and upon each other ; the wealthy 
themselves also watching individuals of their own number ; 
to insure that every thing shall be forthcoming, and fairly 
sold and divided. It is thus, I hope, that the poor will see, 
that I have not only shown him his rights, but how he may 
get them, in spite of all opposition. If now he does not 
obtain them, it will be no one's fault but his own, and that 
of his associates ; and this, I am well aware, will not be 
chargeable upon them longer than is necessary, for the 
common understanding of their rights, and the creation of 
a proper concert of action among them. 

It is proper to remark still further, in opposition to any 
impression that I think unfavorably of the efficacy of moral 
feeling among men, to bring about and maintain such an 
order of things, as I desire to see established. No man 
makes a greater mistake, than when he supposes a vast 
majority of mankind are not honest. If they are not so, 
what secures to the rich the enjoyment of their property 
now ? If a rich man plunder another rich man, who pro- 
tects the sufferer ? Who punishes the offender ? If a poor 
man do the same, who measures out to him the justice 
which the law assigns him ? If the rich, as a body, are now 
in the full enjoyment of what they call their property ; to 
what are they indebted, if it be not to the honesty of 



346 

the poor, as a body ? If the latter, as a body, were not 
honest, honest even to the fault of suffering others to retain 
what does not belong to them, what is there to hinder 
them from indulging in their dishonesty ? Is it the law ? Is 
it a little parchment, inscribed with a little ink, as is now 
the paper I write on ? Or is it the valor and prowess of 
the rich ? Is their number sufficient ; is their strength ade- 
quate ; to prevail over the will or the wish of the great mass 
of the people ? 

On the contrary, I build my system on the moral consti- 
tution of man. If, in the introduction of it, if, in the first in- 
stance, it is necessary to use punishment and severity ; it is 
to unclench the hand of avarice, and make it give up its 
dishonest possessions. But this feeling, which thus requires 
the use of energetic means, is itself an edl, having its origin 
solely in the present order of things. Let the new order 
be established ; let the judgments of men be convinced, 
that no property is their own ; that they have only the use 
of it, while they live ; that when they cease to live, it be- 
longs to others ; and that it is not for the past possessor to 
say to whom ; and public opinion will support this system, 
as it now does the present. It will no more controvert 
any of its principles or provisions, than it does now, those 
that exist among us. If, for example, it comes to be un- 
derstood, to be as much of a felony, of a robbery, of a 
crime against another, for a father, during his lifetime, to 
give away his property to another, to a son or a daughter, 
for example, as it is now, to counterfeit coin, or commit 
highway robbery ; will such father be likely to make such 
gift ? Will the son or the daughter be likely to receive it ? 
If the one is about to descend into the grave, will he dare 
to leave, at his exit from the world, a tarnished memory 
behind him ? Will his children dare not only to survive 
their father's reputation, but to live in the infamy of their 



34-7 

own ? On the contrary; will they not be anxious to avoid 
any and every suspicion of having had agency in any 
such transaction ? Besides, in what particular would the 
receiver profit ? To bestow it on his or her children, the 
same offence must be committed again ; and that by two 
parties; and both under the same perilous circumstances. 
It does not avail to say that a thousand opportunities would 
exist, whereby it could be done, without detection. So do 
daily, and hourly, now, opportunities exist where men, in 
a thousand ways, may commit offences against our present 
laws, and yet it is not done. The truth is, that system is 
a good one which is built on the supposition that men are 
honest ; and that is a false one, which supposes them to 
be otherwise. It is moral rectitude which prevents the 
commission of crimes now, and it would be the same mo- 
ral rectitude, under much better circumstances, however, 
which would prevent the giving property away, under the 
new system ; inasmuch as it would be seen to be a robbery 
of tJK- next generation 

Besides, in the new order of things, both^ father and son 
would be equal. Neither would be in need. And every 
one knows, that gifts do not prevail between equals ; not 
even between parents and children. There is no motive 
for it. If it ever happen that they are offered, it is seen im- 
mediately, that they create resentment. They are received 
as insults, or as foolish offers of unavaihng kindness. For 
the party to whom they may be offered, instantly feels him- 
self treated as a menial, or a dependent. In this case, be- 
sides being degrading, it would be criminal; it would sub- 
ject to loss of reputation^ and to punishment. If, there- 
fore, it has been necessary, in my estimation to provide 
punishment for a crime so little likely to be comitted, it 
is because it is rendered necessary, in the first introduction 
of the system, in consequence Df the vices already engen- 



348 

dered by a corrupt state of things, which this system is in- 
tended to supplant and remove. 

So much as regards a gift direct. It hardly needs be 
said that property sold, or service rendered at a price, either 
above or below its worth, is a gift also ; which, on being 
circumstantially proved to have been made, for the purpose 
of evading the laws, would subject the parties concerned 
to the infamy and punishment now awarded to felony* 
Gaming, by lottery, or otherwise, would be felony also ; 
since it is nothing less than a gift from the loser to the win- 
ner ; and to this practice, the moral feeling which would 
pervade the community, would put an entire stop. Nor is 
this, in any manner, to be doubted, unless it is to be sup« 
posed that the citizens, in the new order of things, would 
be indifferent to their children and grandchildren, being de- 
prived of a portion of their patrimony, on coming to the 
age of maturity. And even these, during the period of 
minority, would not fail to expose all offences of the kind 
that came to their knowledge ; thus restraining and pre- 
venting the practice, if a sense of moral rectitude did not, of 
itself, prove adequate to the object. 

As to insurance, (by private incorporations,) I have 
not thought it strictly consistent with the design of this 
Work, to give my ideas in relation to it. There is no doubt) 
that it bears, in some degree, the character of gaming. 
And it is an important question to decide, whether it ought 
not to be excluded altogether, from the proposed new mo- 
dification of Society. In this event, however, the State 
Government itself would find it necessary to become the 
insurer, in all matters in which it is proper to insure at all. 
1 incline to think that it would be the best system that 
could be adopted ; and that for a multitude of reasons, 
which cannot fail to suggest themselves to the reader, and 
which 1 need not trouble him to mention. 



349 ' ■ 

The reader has seen, that the fund which enables each 
individual to bid for his share or proportion of the property 
of the State, is in the form of credit. It will not be possible 
to do it with money, as, for such a purpose as that of sel- 
ling the entire property of a whole community, at one time, 
there is not money enough, perhaps, in the whole world. 
I have no accurate means of ascertaining what amount of 
gold and silver, for this only is money, and can be receiv- 
ed as such, there may be in this State. 

As it regards the United States, it appears that, since 
the year 1793, when our mint was first established, up to 
the end of the year 1^28, there have been coined, a trifle 
less than 30| millions of dollars, in coins of every descrip- 
tion. If we suppose, anterior to the first mentioned peri- 
od, that we might have had. already among us, 5| millions 
more ; and if we further suppose, that we have held our 
own ; neither added to, nor diminished this amount, it 
would appear that we now have, in the nation, the sum of 
thirty -six millions of dollars. Taking now our numbers at 
twelve millions, we discover, that there would be only 
three dollars to each man, woman, and child, in the Uni- 
ted States ! If this be any thing like correct, how ridicu- 
lous will appear those boastings of the importance of Bank- 
ing Institutions, which we so often have sounded in our 
ears, especially on the subject of the safe-keeping of mo- 
ney. When all men shall have their equal rights to pro- 
perty accorded to them, how childish will it not seem, to 
talk of the importance of such a service ; even if a family, 
say of five persons, were to have even five hundred dollars, 
instead of fifteen or twenty ? If Banks have derived any 
consequence from this kind of service, rendered to the com- 
munity, it has been because one only in a million, as it 
were, has possessed money ; and he has felt that he needed 
some such place of safe-keeping for his ill-gotten treasure,- 

30 



^ 350 

Let the people but have their rights, as it regards proper- 
ty, and they will keep their gold and silver, as well as other 
property, safe enough^ without any aid to be derived fVom 
Banking Institutions of any kind whatever. If, however, 
any of them shall be troubled with more than they will 
have any disposition to keep safe^ they can even do with it 
as a man is obliged to do now, who has cotton, or tobacco, 
which he does not wish to keep himself; they can pay 
another for keeping it, in his warehouse, and not tax the 
community with the charge, as is now the fact, with res* 
pect to money, in the shape of chartered privileges. 

But, inasmuch as the coins of other countries circulate 
here, by the command of our laws, as well as. our own 
coin, a circumstance I believe, which happens with fefir 
other countries, especially, if they be of any great import- 
ance in the scale of nations, it may be that this estimate is 
too low. About the period of the occurrence of the French 
Revolution, when the population of France amounted to 
twenty-four millions, M. Neckar* ascertained there was 
above four hundred millions of dollars in gold and silver, 
in that country, in constant circulation. This would make 
about seventeen dollars, for every man, woman, and child 
in France. In England, at the same period, the quantity 
for each such person did not exceed five dollars. This 
difterence, is in part to be accounted for, from the fact, 
that, in France, there was no paper money ; and that in 
Ktjgland the quantity was, as it continues to be, enor- 
mous. 

If, therefore, I were to make the quantity of gold and 
silver, which, pro ratUy belongs to every man, woman and 
and child, in America, equal to what it is, in France, it 



'* See Administration of the Finances of France, Vol. llTj 
%y M. Neckar, 



351 

would still he very inconsiderable, when compared with 
the entire valuaiion of all the property of the State. The 
Credit fund, therefore, was indispensable, as furnishing 
the only means of transferring the whole property, at a 
time to new-owners ; at prices the same as would be com- 
manded for it, if it were sold in any long course of succes- 
sive negociations. 

It is not possible for any one, much less for myself, to 
oifer any thing more than a mere conjecture of the pro- 
bable value of the State. So much of property has been 
exempted from taxation, to satisfy the cupidity of various 
orders of our people, at the expense of the rest ;* so much 
of personal property which is liable to assessment for the 
purpose of taxation, escapes the knowledge of the assessor ; 
so much of what is assessed ; is assessed only at a nominal 
value ; so much of it is held by the State, such as our 
Salt-Springs, and public lands ; of the latter nearly one 
million of acres ; and so different would be the circum- 
stances, under which all this property would be put up, to 
sale, if ever it be done, that I should not at all bS* sur- 
prised, if the result of such sale, should make the aggre- 
gate value of five times the amount, at which any actual 



* Witness the exemption from taxation, of Church pro- 
perty, altogether; and the property of priests, so far as it 
does not exceed fifteen hundred dollars. Who does not see, 
in this oppressive privilege, the apostles and followers as 
they aflfect to call themselves, of a holy religion, with one 
hand offering upilevotions of piety to the Creator; and with 
the other plundering the pockets of their neighbors, of 
money, with which to pay the taxes on their property ; since 
by availing themselves of, if they have not sought, the exemp- 
tion, they impose the burthen of taxation wholly upon the 
remainder of the community which ought to be borne equal" 
ly by all, by themselves as well as by others ? 



552 

assessment, under existing circumstances, has ever maile 
it. For it is to be recollected ; that every thing would be 
sold at a price, little or nothing less than the labor would 
be worth, to supply the place of that which is wanted, but 
which if it be not purchased, must be made. Thus in 
personal property, this principle would prevail, through- 
out ; and so also, in real, so far as regards all the labor 
that has been bestowed upon it to make it what it is. 

Correspondmg with these ideas, my conjectures would 
make the whole property of this State, to be worth, two 
thousand or twenty-five hundred millions of dollars. Put- 
ting the whole population at two millions, as it is likely to 
be, in 1830, and dividing this sum equally among them all, 
it would amount to a thousand or twelve hundred and fifty 
dollars each, for man, woman and child. But as none are 
to have any thing, who have not arrived at the age of ma- 
turity, whatever that^hall be, this amount will be more 
than doubled. Thus — the age of sixteen and a half is 
about the dividing line. I mean by this that there are as 
many under this age, as there are over ; and as many over, 
as under. If then this age were selected as that of ma- 
turity ; the portion which each person of mature age 
would receive, would be equal, under the estimate I have 
made, to about, from two thousand to twenty-five hundred 
dollars. A man, therefore, and his wife, would have from 
four to five thousand dollars. And by fixing the age of 
maturity, at eighteen, as recommended in this Work, in- 
stead of sixteen and a half ; the amount already assigned 
would be still greater yet. 

I do not particularly concern myself to repel any charge 
of extravagance, which may be brought against me on ac- 
count of this estimate. 1 do not undertake to know any 
thing about it. And such I presume is the situation in 
which any one will find himself who undertakes to ar 



'353 

raign its correctness. It is sufficient for me, that I have 
shewn, that there is a probability that some such large 
amount, will be forth^coming to each individual whenever 
such sale and division is made, as this Work proposes. 
And such sale, and Division, in addition to the other good 
effects which it will produce, will also determine, how far 
I am wrong, and how far those who controvert me are 
right ; for this will be the only way of arriving^ at the 
truth. Besides, it is not a fact, that the patrimony is use^ 
ful on account of the number of dollars which may be 
made use of, to compare its value, with other things, or 
with other patrimonies ; but because the system which he- 
stows itf makes all equal ; because it banishes, in the com- 
mon acceptation of the words, both Wealth and Want j 
destroying both the oppressor and the oppressed ; the vic- 
tor and the victim, by preventing accumulation of power 
in one ; and destitution, weakness or poverty in another. 
And this good effect, would be equally as well accom- 
plished, if the property, placed into each man's possession^ 
w^ere known by a valuation to which we give the idea of 
five hundred dollars, as if it were fifty thousand dollars. 
For names do not change the nature of transactions, or 
facts, whatever they may be. 

It is apparent, therefore, without even a moment's re- 
flection, that either three ^ five, or seventeen dollars each | 
even if we could suppose, they would all be forth-coming 5 
would be of no avail, towards the purchase of a patrimony 
for any one. It is of necessity, therefore, that each ono 
must bid ; and as he cannot be expected to have the means 
of payment for any bid over his amount, he is to be re^ 
strained from bidding beyond a certain excess : he must 
be restraiaed also from bidding below a certain deficienc|r. 
In the case of tho^ excess, if it be for fast property ; the 
^tate may hold a lien on it, for a reasonable time^ until 

30* 



354 

the industry of the owner can have opportunity to redeem 
it. And if it be personal, security, by way of lien on the 
property of others, or some other adequate arrangement, 
may be adopted to secure its dehvery to the purchaser, 
and payment to the State. I need not trouble the reader 
with details, which he will as well know how to supply as 
any one else. 

As each one must bid, he will naturally bid for that, 
which will best suit his purpose in future life. Nor will 
any one be able to buy much of such particular personal 
property, as would afterwards sell readily ; and be con- 
verted into money for the use of the spendthrift. All 
will have use ; and that, too, for an equal portion of those 
articles which enter into immediate and" general consump- 
tion ; such as clothing, food, and luxuries. There will, 
therefore, be no opportunity of engrossing these articles, 
which would be particularly saleable and convertible into 
cash ; and if there be even something of the kind, tiiere 
will be a small field for the exercise of such a propensity, 
since all, or nearly all, will be supplied with what they 
have any present means of paying for. If they are to pur- 
chase more, they must set themselves to work before-they 
can pay ; and in the mean time, he who might have to sell, 
must work, too, or perish ; and he would, therefore, have 
a much narrower opportunity of playing the prodigal, than 
he has now. 

" This will be, to empty our warehouses and ^torehous- 
^' es," says one, •' and will you do without merchants?" 
Not an hour, I answer. " With what will they fill their 
** warehouses, again, since they will have little money ?" I 
answer again, with honesty, with good character, with skill 
in and knowledge of business ; in one word, with repu- 
tation for integrity, as chiefly they do now. It will be 
quite as impossible, then, to do without merchants, as it is 



365 

now. The cultivators of the soil cannot sell their producej 
except in gross ; and the artisan and manufacturer will 
still continue, as he does now, to find his interest in em- 
ploying a salesman, (probably altogether as a commission 
merchant,) rather than in being the salesman himself. 
Whoever, in the new state of things, should fancy that the 
merchant was the owner of all he had in possession, would 
deceive himself ; but he would deceive himself very little 
more than he would to fancy the same thing now. The 
world would be altered in one thing only ; the owners of 
it would be difierent in number and relative worth; but 
this would be all; except the immense difference that 
would soon make itself visible in individual and general 
prosperity. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Conclusion. 

If a man were to ask me, to what I would compare the 
unequal distribution of property which prevails in the world, 
and has ever prevailed, I would say, thatit reminds me of 
a large party of gentlemen, who should have a common 
right to dine at one and the same public table ; a part of 
whom should arrive first, sit down and eat what they chose ; 
and then, because the remaining part came later to dinner, 
should undertake to monopohze the whole ; and deprive 
them of the opportunity of satisfying their hunger, but up- 
on terms such as those who had feasted, should be pleased 
to prescribe. 

Such, now, is the actual condition of the whole human 
race. Those who have gone before us, have been the first to 



356 

sit down to the table, and to enjoy themselves, without in- 
terruption, from those who came afterwards ; and not con- 
tent with this enjoyment, they have disposed of the whole 
dinner, in such a manner, that nine-tenths of the beings 
that now people this globe, have not wherewith to dine, but 
upon terms such as these first monopolisers, or those to whom 
they pretend they have conferred their own power as succes- 
sors, shall choose to dictate. It is, as if, after dining till 
they ivere satisfied, a general scramble ensued, for what 
remained on the table ; and those who succeeded in filling 
their pockets and other receptacles, with provisions, should 
have something to give to their children; but those who 
should have the misfortune to get none, or having got it, 
should lose it again, through fraud, calamity, or force, 
should have none for theirs, to the latest generation. 

Such is the exact resemblance of the present order of 
things. Ye proud and rich possessors of the earth, look 
at this, and see if it be not so ; and being so, and seeing 
that it is in your power to consent to a more honorable 
method of obtaining title to possession ; say, if ye will 
not do so ? I do not ask you, because it is in your power 
to confer any favor by giving such consent ; for, this com- 
munity, and every other, wfaeneve.r they shall understand 
their rights, will have power enough in their own hands to 
do what they shall think fit, without seekmg for any acqui- 
sition from you ; but because it will be more agreeable 
to your own true happiness, to give such consent freely ; 
than, with the ill, but unavailing grace of reluctance. 
Three hundred thousand freemen, in this State, hold votes 
in their hands, which no power that you can command can 
take out ; and of these freemen, more than two hundred 
and fifty thousand are men whom a preceding generation, 
together with* yourselves and their own ignorance of their 
rights have conspired to place in situations such that they 



357 

have no property in-the State of which they are citizens ; 
although their title to such property is as good as that of 
any man that breathes 

The first possession of this State, by the ancestors of 
its present inhabitants, was acquired by means, partaking 
of the nature of fraud, cunning,- purchase and conquest, 
the latter predominating ; acting upon ignorance, and 
want of the power of resistance. So far is this' emphati- 
cally true that in 1609, on Hudson's return from the place 
where Albany now is, whither he went, in the very first 
voyage which led to the discovery of the river which' bears 
his name, "a considerable number of Indians had assem- 
'' sembled at the head of the island, [Manhattan, on which 
<' this city now stands,] and as he approached, assailed 
" him with a volley of arrows from their canoes. By a 
"few discharges of cannon, and muskets, which killed 
" several of the savages, the attack was repulsed, and the 
'• assailants put to flight." So that from this historical 
circumstance, in the absence of other history which I need 
not refer to, it is evident that some previous aggression 
had provoked this attack. 

But it is not necessary now to say more, in objection to 
titles obtained, by possession, by conquest, or by any other 
• maginary species of acquisition. It has been shown al- 
ready, throughout these pages, I trust to the satisfaction of 
the reader, that title to property exists for all ; and for all 
alike ; not because others have been ; nor because they 
have not been ; not because they had a certain being for a 
parent, rather than another being; not because they ap- 
pear later, or earlier, on the stage of life, than others ; not 
because of purchase, of conquest,, of preoccupancy, or what 
not ; but BECAUSE THEY ARE : BECAUSE THEY 
EXIST. I AM; THEREFORE IS PROPERTY 
MINE ; as much so as any man's, and that without asking 



358 

any man's permission ; without paying any man price ; with- 
out knowing or caring farther than as my equal right extends, 
whether any other human being exists, or not. Such is the 
language of nature ; such is the language of right ; and such 
are the principles which will justify any people in pulling- 
down any government ; which denies, even to a single in- 
dividual of the human race, his possession, his real tangi- 
ble possession, of this unalienable right of nature ; or its 
unquestionable equivalent. How much more so,then,isit the 
duty of any such people, to destroy their own government, 
when more than nine-tenths, it may be, are deprived of rights 
which the Creator gave them, when he gave them existence? 

Before I approach the termination of this work, it may 
not be amiss, that we ask ourselves, how has it happened, 
that wealth, or in other words, possession, has succeeded 
in making itself so unequal in the world as it appears ; and 
appears, almost without exception, ever to have been ? Im- 
mediately there, are hundreds, vvho are ready to cry out, 
*' It is conquest that has done it." And having so said, 
they seem to say, by the acquiescent manner in which it is 
spoken, that having been brought about by conquest, it is, 
therefore, impossible to undo what conquest has done. 

Conquerors, undoubtedly, have their rights, as well as 
other men. But, these rights they have, as men, and not 
as conquerors. Often, no doubt, with the sword, they 
have won what truly belonged to them of right; but, then, 
it was not the sword that conferred the right ; it only gave 
possession of it. The right existed before the sword was 
made to belong to him who wielded it. It came into ex- 
istence with his own being, and departed only with it. But 
its possession, its enjoyment, often may depart without it, 
as has happened, I might say, almost for ever. 

But how came conquest ? How came men to be willing 
to hire themselves out to those whom we call chieftains ? 



359 

To be pierced with spears and arrows ? To be penetrated 
with sword and ball for price ? How came man to set him- 
self up, as a mark to be shot at, for sixpence a-day ? We 
need not go to remote ages to find an answer to this ques- 
tion. Ask only at our Forts ; enquire only of our Navy, 
and they will tell you. They will say, that if society had 
given them*all a competence^ (or rather the means of acquir-^ 
ing it,) such as all men might have, under proper circum- 
stances, they would not have consented to be where they 
are. And this would be true of all nations. Let the men 
t»f all nations be made equal among themselves, in point of » 
property, and then will wars be immediately self-extinguish- 
ed for ever. Keep up this unnatural inequality in wealthy 
which now exists, and they will exist as long as two na- 
tions shall be found m existence. Nay, more, they will 
exist even yet longer ; for when only a single nation shall 
be found, civil wars will not fail to appear, as they do now, 
and from the same causes. 

It appears, then, that conquerors grow out of a state of 
unequal possession of property, ; and without such an une- 
qual possession, they would never have existed. It ap" 
pears, also, that by destroying this inequality every where, 
conquerors and warriors would be destroyed also. The 
question, then, again comes up ; how came this inequali- 
ty to exist ? How had it beginning ? For we can all easily 
understand how it would continue unequal, and the ine- 
quality increase in magnitude, after it has once had a be* 
ginning. For it is even proverbial that *' money makes 
money ;" \vhereas, the true proverb should be, that man 
makes money. It is quite as ridiculous to say, that " mo- 
ney makes money," as it would be to say that one planta- 
tion makes another. Between the owners of these two 
plantations, there may be certain relations, by which th« 
one owner comes to be possessed ^f both ; but still it is 



36b 

an absurdity of the grossest kind, to say that one plantation 
ought to have, that is, makes, or earns another. However, 
as the world now is, *' money makes money." And so 
true is it, that if a little globe of gold, as large as that of 
the head of a large brass pin, say the one -sixteenth of an 
inch in diameter, were let out on compound interest, at 5 
per cent, a year, in a little more than 1300 years it would 
amount to another solid globe, of gold, greater than this 
whole earth ! Interest, therefore, is like a magnet, which 
daily gains more and more power, as you append more 
weight to it ; and that without doing any thing to acquire 
or increase this power. But, to recur again to our ques- 
tion : How, did inequality begin ? 

To ascertain, we must go to those countries, in whose 
first settlement conquest had no agency ; and when we 
have arrived there, we must ascend to the earliest age of 
the people who inhabit it. What shall we find there ? 
No history can tell us any thing ; for at such periods of 
time, men were not able, and if they were able, had no mo- 
tive to write one. We are, therefore, left to follow nature 
by analogy ; and from the little we do know, to infer what 
we do not know. 

At that early age, we may understand a great extent of 
country before us. We may understand, also, that there 
were very few people. We may consider them ignorant 
and helpless. Their resources of subsistence would be the 
fruits and roots of trees ; animals and fish ; and their cloth- 
ing, as far as they might have any, would be, perhaps, the 
skins of the beasts they had killed for food. Habitation 
they would have none ; or if any, it would be for rest, a 
cave, or ahoUow tree, or the recess of some super-impend- 
ing rock. If, in process of time, they should learn, as they 
would, that the animals on which, they subsist, might be 
rendered decile and tractable, it would lead them to disco- 



361 

ver that those which they now take in the chase, with 
great labor and difficulty, and frequently at great in- 
tervals of time, producing great distress from hunger ; 
might be bred up in a domestic way; and they would 
adopt the practice. This change would lead them 
from the state of hunters, to that of shepherds. At 
first, these would locate themselves no where. They would 
ramble about for food : and as there is supposed to be a 
great superabundance of territory, and but few people^ 
there would be no objection, because there wonld be no 
collision of interest ; and, therefore, there would arise 
no investigation of rights. For rights are never investigated, 
whenever all have more than they know what to do with. 
It is only when privation begins to bear hard, and oppres- 
to manifest itself, that inquiry into rights begins to take 
place. 

But if they did not, at this stage of their existence, in- 
quire into the rights of this shepherd, to this tenvporary lo- 
cation ; and of that, to another ; because there was no 
need of it ; so also did they not inquire, (as men, now, do 
not inquire into their rights.) why one should have a larger 
flock than another ; or why one shepherd dying, a certain 
person, or persons, rather than any other person, or per- 
sons, should become the owner of it. All had enough for 
their own simple wants, and this was sufficient to render 
inquiry unnecessary. If, indeed, any inquiry could have 
arisen, at that early period, it is not to be doubted, that the 
principle of equal rights would have prevailed ; and this, if 
necessary, would have proceeded to the greatest extent pos- 
sible. Thus,, not only would it have been forbidden to any 
one to monopolize one location rather than another ; a 
larger flock rather than a smaller ; but the right, in prefer- 
ence to another, to sleep even in a hollow tree, would 
have been contested, and contested withthesame zeal and 

31 



362 

animosity, as that with which armies now contend for the 
acquisition or preservation of empire. 

In progress of time it was discovered, that these flocks 
could be raised with less labor and risk, if cultivation were 
added to their store of resources. But this required SLperma- 
nent location. It called upon the shepherd to fix upon some 
place. In this there would be no difficulty. For inasmuch 
as territory is very abundant, and population thin, there is 
room enough, and more than enough, for all. Why should 
they differ ? Differ they did not ; and not differing, no in- 
quiry was made, why this location should belong to one 
rather than to another. Had any such investigation 
arisen,as a matter of course, the affair must have been 
settled by convention. Agreement must have assigned 
this to this ; and that to the other ; and no one 
could have said, such and such are mine, to your exclu- 
sion. Battle would have been the consequence of such a 
declaration, and the right of the strongest would have pre- 
vailed ; but it is not to be known here, whether it would 
have been the right of justice. Yet, during this natural 
progress of thingrs, experience has not taught them ; they 
do not perceive, the future tenacity with which posses- 
sion, now simply not objected to, will be retained, on the 
principle, as it will be called, of right in the holder, by vir- 
tue of this same possession. 

During all this time, population increases ; but increases 
slowly. Deaths happen. Parents more or less keep their 
children around them. When the former die, as there is 
little wealth anywhere, little or no inquiry is started, as to 
whose are the flocks that the father possessed ? Proba- 
bly none at all. Land is abundant every where ; and all 
have opportunity to have flocks of their own, and to culti- 
vate, little as they may do, fields of their own. The child- 
ren are, therefore, left in possession. 



363 

Nor, if two shepherds immediately adjacent to each 
other, should die, at the same time, one having, it may be, 
live children, and the other only one ; would inquiry arise 
why the one child should have the flocks of the one father, 
and the five children have only the flocks of the other fa- 
ther ? In general among all such nations, and I be- 
lieve, always, hospitality prevails, to a great extent, and if 
need should arise, for the numerous family to receive of the 
flocks of the richer son, hospitality would aflord it. Be- 
sides, land still greatly abounding, new locations would be 
taken, new flocks reared, and new fields cultivated ; with- 
out any investigation of their actual origmal rights. 

I said, fields would be cultivated ; but the tillage they 
would undergo, would hardly deserve the name of cultiva- 
tion. Every thmg would be extremely rude. Nor, in 
most cases, would those fields have any fences. The loca* 
lions would be without lines or limits. There would be 
no boundaries, for the simple reason, that there is yet more 
of soil than any of them want. If fence be made at all, at 
this period, it is such, perhaps, as that which may be suffi- 
cient to inclose their flocks, and keep them from straying, 
while their owner sleeps. 

The handicraft arts would begin to make some progress. 
Accidental circumstances would give some much more 
taste and skill, in Kj^eir prosecution, than others could ac- 
quire. This superior taste and skill would be turned to 
account, to supply the wants of their possessor. He would 
look less to land, and the ordinary resources, than others 
are obliged to do. He would soon become indifl^erent, 
more or less, to the possession of the soil. By imitation, 
too, his children and associates would, more or less, adopt 
his mode of life, and acquire similar facihty in the same 
pursuits. If they did not, they still could get land as much 
as they might want. 



364 

In this way, society advances in numbers. The arts alsa 
advance in number, perfection, and the population enga- 
ged in them ; and still there is land enough for all, and 
more. But they find it in their common interest to divide, 
almost without knowing that they have done so, their oc- 
bupations. Still the principle prevails, ah :! gains strength, 
that whoever is near the dying man, at and abojt the lat- 
ter part of his life, succeeds to his possessions. Nor is 
there yet any great harm in it : for there would be very 
little alteration produced for the common benefit, if the at- 
tendants upon the dying man, (being generally his child- 
ren,) should abandon his location, and take another. For 
as yt- 1 th^re js m<>re land than any and all want. 

The children of those, too, who pursue handicraft 
trades, succeed to the possession of their father's effects ; 
because the prim iple is seen to be similar ; and because it 
is perceived, that they will better understand the use of 
them ; and can better employ them in the s?itisfaction of 
\\ie wants of others. 

In the course of time, however, land is taken up so much, 
that there begins to arise some inquiry as to the extent of 
rights; none, however, as it regards the rights themselves. 
Long established custom having sanctioned the latest, as 
welfas the earhest locations, it does not occur to them, to 
<rcf back to periods of times anterior to their first fixation. 
All they conceive they hav^ to do, is to assign limits or 
boundaries to such locations, as they now find them; and 
this, of course, is done, by what may be called the public 
authority. They lose sight of that original question, which 
they would have had to discuss, if, instead of coming 
through this long and tedious process, it may be, of some 
thousand years, to their present condition, in point of num- 
bers and knowledge ; they had just arrived, for the first 
time, to the possession of the territory they now occupv 



365 

In the latter event, they would have to enquire, why this 
location, rather than another, should belong to this man ; 
or why another should belong to a second instead of a third; 
and why also a son or a brother, rather than any other 
person, should have it, or either, after the .assigned owner 
has left it. All these are questions, now, which they do 
not discuss; and for the simple reason, there is no subject 
requiring their interposition, but that oi boundaries or lim" 
its, to each man^s possessions. As yet there is land ,there 
is property enough for all ; and therefore, again, they do 
not enquire about their rights. 

At the same time, too, that limits are assigned to these 
locations, they are made transmissible, like ordinary per- 
sonal property ; and probably now, or before this time, mo- 
ney is invented. 

Here a great change takes place. Population conti- 
nues to increase ; and now they can find no more unset- 
tled land. Or if they can, they must go farther for it, than 
they are disposed, or are able to afford the means necessa- 
ry. Sooner than do this, they prefer to enter into a treaty 
with him or those who have, and may spare. For the first 
time, the land-holder begins to feel that he has power. 
He tastes the advantage of it ; and his thirst increases for 
more. Here, then, has avarice begun. Nor could it be- 
gin, until some human being was found, out of whose dis- 
tress, arising in consequence of his wanting possessions ^ 
such as his felloivs enjoy, the sweets of another's labor, 
were to be extracted. 

Necessity arising from a deprivation of their natural and 
original right to property, compels many to make a treaty^ 
whereby they surrender a portion ; a small portion, at firstj 
it is true, of their labor. Numbers continue to increase}, 
but the land itself does not increase. Greater and greater 
exactions are made, tillj at last, they become so great xyipX 

.31^ 



366 

more cannot be given ; for more is not in being to be giv* 
en. Still population increases yet more ; and men, needy 
and wretched ; finding that they cannot obtain the means of 
aupportmg life, but by engaging in the interest of some 
large possessor, who has cause of quarrel with another, he 
consents; and thus do we see the origin of the soldier. 
And so does this state of things continue to increase, in in- 
flicting misery and wretchedness uppn the race, till it 
arrives at the condition in which we now see mankind suf- 
fering. 

In all the principles of the rights of property which are 
thus seen to have been almost insensibly adopted, there is 
not one which has been adopted on any consideration, cor- 
rect er otheruise^ of its own merits. Usage has done eve- 
ry thing. Custom, practice, habit, has made all the law ; 
and made it at times, and under circumstances, in which 
it was of no consequence to the generation then being, whe- 
ther the principles involved in the custom, were good in 
themselves, or not ; whether they would be productive of 
immense injury or not, when they should come to have a 
dense population to act upon ; whether they were consist- 
ent with the rigid rights of ther own generation, or not ; 
whether they preserved the rights of posterity, or sacrificed 
them with a most unsparing hand. To them, it was all 
the same, whether they had good principles, or bad. or 
none at all. And the latter was the fact. For it is not 
to be said that any principle prevails, where no investiga- 
tion is had, oi the effects which the practice, whatever it 
may be, will produce, when carried out to the fullest 
extent. 

Thus, in detail, do we see, how the present state of 
things has had its origin. In the origin of the soldier, the 
material of conquest, do we see also, the origin of eve- 
«7 other miserable and dependent human being. And when 



367 

conquest has once created for itself an existence ; how 
frightfully rapid dt)es it transfer into its own keeping, as 
it were, the whole property of the globe. Look at the 
early history of this country, and see how vast are the pos- 
sessions that owe their origin, more or less, to this source. 
Look, also, at South America. Is there any legitimacy of 
title in all this ? And now, that suffrage, and the printing 
press, have come to the redemption of man's rights ; shall 
not man undo the wrongs of the sword ? Shall he not cor- 
rect those errors that gave the sword its existence and its 
power ? Shall not man, now, even at this late date, when 
myriads of millions have gone to their graves, without ever 
having once enjoyed their rights ; shall not man, now, rise 
in the majesty of his strength, and claim that which as much 
belongs to him, as does his Hfe and liberty ? 

Let it not be said, that man is yet unfit to enjoy these 
rights. Who, or what is it, that has made him so ? Is it 
not the very evil of which I am speaking, if it be any thing ? 
And is it to be said that man is to be made fit, by keeping 
him under the operation of the same cause that Has made 
him otherwise ? Besides, why should it be said, that man's 
right to property, jn the light in which I present it, his real 
and true right, is more to be kept from his possession and 
enjoyment, than a right in the same person even, to pro- 
perty coming to him in the ordinary way ? No man, now, 
undertakes to say, that an heir at law, as now the law is 
among us, shall not come into possession of a legacy, 
because people, whoever they may be, choose to say he is 
unfit to receive it. Even if he be truly unfit, he neverthe, 
less receives it, by way of guardian or trustee. Why then is 
it to be said, that men generally shall not have their rights, 
in the acceptation in which I understand them, if they shall 
be of opinion, that this acceptation is correct, on similar 
terms % Ask ihem^ when they shall have made up their 



868 

minds, what their rights are, if they are to be kept out of 
their possession, by any such frivolous pretexts ? 

But not to treat these frivolous pretexts either with a 
levity or a severity unbecoming our subject, it would be 
easy, I think, to show, in any age, and particularly the pre- 
sent, that the poor and the middling classes, those whose 
condition would be benefitted by the adoption of the sys- 
tem recommended in this work, are now possessed of higher 
intellectual, and better moral acquirements and habits, 
than belong to those whom we call rich. And the proof is, 
as it regards the comparison of knowledge, both theoretical 
and practical, between the two parties, that if, this day, 
their opportunities of displaying it, were made equal, by 
making property equal, those who now fill the lower 
ranks in life, would live better and happier, on the same 
amount of exertion, than those who fill the higher. This, 
then, I take it, is evidence of the fact. For if knowledge 
be not that which enables us thus to live better and happier, 
I have yet to learn in what it consists. Any knowledge 
of a character different from this, I apprehend, is not worth 
having, and deserves to be considered as either worthless 
or hostile to human happiness. He, therefore, is surely no 
friend to the race, who, on any such unfounded pretence,^ 
as that of unfitness, want of knowledge, &c. &c. objects 
to the immediate enjoyment, by the numerous class of 
whom I am speaking, of their right of property, as well as 
of every other right. And as to the question of compara- 
tive morality of the two classes, every one knows that the 
poorer is the most virtuous 

Besides, how ridiculously absurd must those poHtical 
physicians appear, who shall oppose, or attempt io postpone 
such enjoyment of their rights by the great mass of the 
people, until they shall receive, as the phrase is, the benefit 
of education. If they be sincere in their belief that such 



369 

education is so very indispensable as a previous step to tliis 
enjoyment ; and that the people are not now sufficiently 
instructed, let me ask them how, under present circum- 
stances, is it ever possible to give it ? Is a family, where 
both parents and children are suffering daily, in their ani- 
mal wants ; where excessive toil is required to obtain the 
little they enjoy ; where the unkind and the unfriendly pas- 
sions, generated by suph a wretched condition of things, 
reign with fell sway ; is such a family in a situation to re- 
ceive instruction ? Even if the children attend public in- 
stitutions ofeducation,as punctually as may be wished,where 
is that equality of rank and condition, as well between their 
parents as between themselves^ which is so necessary to 
banish even from among children, those envious remarks 
on dress, &c. &c. which now render our public schools in 
a measure abortive 2 Political dreamers ! Reformers, if ye 
prefer that I should call you so! Feed first the^ hunffry ;. 
clothe first the naked, or ill-clad ; provide comfortable 
homes for all ; by hewing down colossal estates among 
us, and equalizing all property ; take care that the animal 
wants be supplied first ; that even the apprehension of want 
be banished ; and then,will you have a good field and good 
subjects for education. Then will instruction be conveyed 
without obstacle ; for the wants, the unsatisfied wants of 
the bodyAvill not interfere with it. In the mean time, let all 
remember, that those who undertake to hold back the peo- 
ple from their rights of property, as shown in this Work, un- 
til e(?Mca<«on, as they call it, can first be communicated, 
(though as already shown, tbey now know more of all 
that is valuable among men, than those who attempt to 
teach them,) either do not understand themselves, or pur- 
sue the course they are pursuing, for the purpose of divert- 
ing the people from the possession of these rights ; that 
they may be held in bondage, even yet longer. It becomes 



- S70 

the people to consider, and reflect, how far it is proper for 
them, fosw^er themselves to be thus decoyed out of the en- 
joyment of their rights, even for a single hour, by any such 
fallacious pretexts. And fallacious they must undoubtedly 
appear, since the entire accomplishment of all that I have 
marked out in this work, as well the form of government 
it exhibits, as the method of bringing it into existence, is a 
matter as plain as that of the equal division of an estate, 
which the father of twelve children may have left, without 
a will, and therefore left to them all equally. These, al- 
though not one of them could read or write a letter or un- 
derstand any thing of what is called science, in all its thou- 
sand branches, could nevertheless divide it among them 
with the most equal and impartial justice. It would be 
the veriest nonsense to talk first of lecturing these heirs 
mto knowledge ; if you please, into the knowledge of As- 
tron,.n.y rt,««.o..5,^ R^,„^ Anatomy, Medicine, Paint- 
ing, Sculpture, Mathematics, &c. &n. ^c. knowledge 
which has no kind of necessary connection with any cor- 
rect understanding of our rights,before giving them their pro- 
perty ; but not more so, than it is now to say, that the peo- 
ple are not fit to have their property given to them, until 
they have first gone through a course of education. 

The truth is, all^men are fitted for the enjoyment of their 
rights, when they know what they are. And until that 
time, they do not desire them. They languish in misery 
and wretchedness; every new day being a new day of sorrow 
to them, when they do not perceive them ; and seem rather 
disposed to charge their evil condition to some "bad 
luck," as they call it ; to some imaginary decree of desti- 
ny ; to some superstitious interference with their happiness ; 
than to any possession by others of property which belongs 
to thsm. Thus is it the case with the poor and the rich, 
passing now in review before us. The former does not 



371 

imagine that it is the latter which renders his life miserable 
and wretched. He does not conceive that it is he who fills 
his cup with bitterness, and visits himself and his family 
with the afflictions of slavery- " Still, slavery, still thou art 
a bitter draught ; and though thousands have been made to 
drink of thee," without knowing that thou comestin the 
shape of the rich man, holding in his hands that property 
which belongs to his fellow-men ; *' still thou art not the 
less bitter on that account." So would Sterne have saidj 
and so say I. 

In the same wandering and benighted spirit, do both the 
poor and the rich, the proprietor and non-proprietor, he 
who has every thing and he who has nothing, cheat them- 
selves, dairy, with self-delusions. How came this to be 
your property? If I ask a man such a question, he imme* 
diately replies, " 1 bought it of such a one." Well, then^ 
I suppose he had a right to sell it to you ? ** Certainly," he 
answers. How came he by it ? I ask next. " He pur- 
chased ef such a one." And he, I suppose, had a right to 
sell, too ? " Undoubtedly." And so we go on inquiring, 
till we come even to the days of Adam. How came he by 
it ? is the next question. And the true, but hurried answer 
is, "^ God gave it to him /" Here, for the first time, reason 
begins to awake, and see where rights originate. What! 
And did God give rights to Adam, which he has 'not given 
to you ? Did God declare, to the man of his first creation, 
that he not only should have the use of this fair paradise, as 
it is s^id to have been, free of all charge, but should also 
have the power to say, that no human being after him^ 
should have the use of it at all, for ever ? For, if Adam 
have the power to sell, so also has he power not to sell; 
he has power to deny its use to any or to all. Better, far 
better for mankind, if such is a correct foundation for our 
right to property, that Adam had never been ; for then w^- 



372 

should have possessed it; without buying of him who never 
bought himself; and to whom it was never given, for the 
purpose of selhng to others ; but for the satisfaction of his 
wants, so long as he should have any ; that is, so long as 
he should live. 

But the absurdity does not stop here. If, in his lifetime, 
Adam should sell the property of the world ; supposing 
him to have the right, he might do so ; if, indeed, it be not 
a contradiction, when there can be nothing to be received 
in payment and on which to support himself. And if he 
wait till he is deceased, how can he sell then ? Can the 
dead sell ? In our day, we do not see bargains made in 
this way. Both buyer and seller are living persons. Pfer- 
haps it will be said, that before a rnan dies, he may agree 
to sell, and to deliver at a future day ; and that day may be 
the day of his death! A strange day this for the consum- 
mation of a bargain I But suppose it to be so, can the 
dead make delivery of property, any more than they can 
make sale of it ? Is it to be done by proxy ? Proxy I have 
heard of, in relation to the living ; but never to the dead. 
Besides, if proxy is competent to make delivery for the 
dead, so also is it competent to make sale or dispositiorit 
and that without any consuhation with him who has once 
owned it. And this places the matter where it ought 
to be. 

Thus does it appear that one generation cannot sell, 
give, or convey, even if it had the right, to another. The 
reason is, that the one is dead ; the other is living. The 
one is present ; the other absent. They do not, and 
cannot meet^ to come to a treaty ; to make delivery ; to 
give or receive. He who is dying, is present : so soon as 
he is dead, he is past, and is no nearer to us, in an instant 
after life has departed, .than if he had died a thousand centu- 
ries ago. Patience becomes exhausted in thus chasing 



373 

away the phantoms on which possessors of property found 
their title to it ; and on which, too, the poor yield their 
assent to the validity of such title ? But it is useful to dis- 
pel such errors from the minds of both the one and the other ; 
that one may not put up a claim, which he shall see fie 
cannot support ; and that the other may not confirm it, 
through a misunderstanding of its real character. 

But, if property thus derived, does not give to its posses- 
sor title, how are debts to be founded upon it ? How am 
I to purchase of another that which is already truly my 
own ? How is a man truly to sell that which does not be- 
long to him ? If it do not belong to him, in unimpeachable 
right, he cannot give unimpeachable title ; and unless he 
can give such title, he cannot have any just claim to receive 
consideration. If he think he has such title, he may be 
very honest in his opinions ; but this would not make it 
the better for him. Title does not come into any man's 
possession, merely by the force of imagination. It has 
other origin than this. To allow a man to sell that which 
is not his, would be to compel some one to pay for that 
which, in true right, is already his own, without payment 
at all, of any kind, or of any amount. Let no man, there- 
fore, say that another owes him ; and ought to pay him : 
let him rather first inquire into the title by which he 
has held that which he pretends he has sold ; let him inquire 
firstt if it was his own to sell. Let him ascertain if the 
pretended debtor, through his ignorance of his own 
rights, has not been placed, by his own government, in 
necessitous circumstances ; and that himself has, by the 
same government, been placed in unjust affluent circum- 
stances. If both of these suppositions are true, then there 
is no debt existing between them ; he who is called the 
debtor has only received that which belonged to him, of 
riffht; and he who calls himself the creditor, has onlv 

32 



374 

parted with that which he never had the right to possess 
or retain. Debts, therefore, and the same is also to be 
said of contracts, in the present order of society, are obli- 
gations having no moral force ; especially as between 
rich and poor ; and so long as it exists never can have 
any. 

But, in confirmation of these positions, nothing would be 
easier, if it were necessary, than to show, even more plain- 
ly than it has yet been done, that there is, in the present 
order of things, no such thing as just debt or valid contract, 
or valid possession of any property whatever, which has 
been obtained of the poor by the rich ; and that simply on 
the principle of what lawyers call duress. And these do 
not fail to call it to their aid as often as they can. It 
means no less than this ; that no man is entitled to possess 
what he has obtained, or expects to obtain, where impri- 
sonment, force or constraint of any description whatever, has 
been employed to acquire possession, or the promise of it. 
Thus, as between the rich and the poor, if the latter now 
owe, or owe payable at a future day, any thing to the for- 
mer, such debt is null and void, if the debtor, by the or- 
ganization of the social institution in which he lives, have 
been deprived of his equal share of the property of the 
State ; and along with it, of his equal education and instruc- 
tion, in all that any of his fellow citizens enjoy, and which 
is so necessary to enable him to supply his future wants. 

It is true, in the instance I take, that it may not be the 
fault of the supposed rich creditor himself, that his debtor, 
as he is termed, is under the duress in question ; but it is 
his fault, if he take advantage of, or profit by it ! And this, 
it would seem, can scarcely be less than self-evident. For 
it is certainly not more just, and therefore, not more legal, 
that I, for example, should obtain possession, or the pro- 
mise of it, of that which belongs to him, whom anotkerha.s 



375 

placed under any species of constraint, than if I had done 
it myself. Nor can it alter the relations of equity and jus- 
tice betwen the parties, that the government which pre- 
sides over both, is the one who is guilty of placing the 
debtor in this duress, as well by withholding from him that 
which is truly his own, of right, as by any other species of 
constraint whatever. 

Nor, in a case in which the government, by giving ex- 
istence to the operation of wills, may have given to any 
one of its citizens, even more than belongs to him in equal 
right with his fellow citizens ; and who, under the moral 
influence exerted upon his mind by a state of things which 
supplies him with unmeasured (as he deems it) and unme- 
rited wealth, squanders it with a profusion, which, sooner 
or later, reduces him to poverty ; I say, even in this case, 
the claim of this unfortunate being to an equal share with 
any and every citizen, in the proposed division of the pro- 
perty of the State, is not to be less respected than that of 
any other man. For although it be true, that in his time, 
he has received more, much more, than his equal share ; 
yet he has received it under such -moral circumstances, as 
not to have the power to retain even that which, in equal 
and exact justice, is truly his own. The very fact, of giv- 
ing to such, or rather to almost any man, enormous pos- 
sessions, is, of itself, of such a character, and accompa- 
nied with such a tendency, as, in most instances, to unjfit 
him, by the moral action it exerts upon him, even to rC" 
tain that which is justly his, and indispensable to the hap- 
piness of his existence 

Whenever therefore, it happens that wealth has de- 
scended hereditarily into any man's^ hand, and has subse- 
quently departed, leaving the former possessor in poverty ; 
such possessor is as effectually under the operation of du- 
resSi as if he had originally been, and continued to be, de- 



376 

prived of his equal share of property. No contract or debt, 
therefore, can justly be said to exist between him and a 
rich creditor, any more than between the same creditor 
and him who is, and always has been poor. And as be- 
tween two rich men, or two men of unequal possessions, 
if any claim is found to rest at all, when there is no title 
for any thing ; such claim is against the richer party in fa- 
vor of that which has less. 

Nor does it avail to say, that inasmuch as the people of 
all governments have ever had the power to have given to 
each individual member of it, his equal share of the pro- 
perty, and along with it equal maintenance and instruction 
during the years of minority ; they have therefore,, tacitly 
at least, consented to the unequal possession which pre- 
vails, and have no right to complain. This is not true ; 
for if it be a fact, that they have tacitly consented ; still 
the origin of this consent, such as it is, is founded in igno- 
rance, in a want of knowledge of their rights. In politi- 
cal justice, as well as in the principles of law acknow- 
ledged by the prevailing jurisprudence, it is laid down, as 
it ought to be in every system where moral rectitude is pre- 
tended to govern, that no man is to be injured, by any 
concessions, express or implied, growing out of his igno- 
rance, or want of a knowledge of his rights. So true is this, 
that it often happens in our courts of law, as novr organ- 
ized, that men, even men learned in the law, as the expres- 
sion is, who have made concessions or stipulations incom- 
patible with their just rights, from not rightly understanding 
them, have had them set aside, and rendered null and void, 
by the proper authority. On the ground, then, even of 
consent, since it could have arisen, or been obtained only, 
through ignorance, there is no reason to cease to consider 
almost all men as in a state of duress, (the rich for the 
time being only excepted,) and as a consequence that 



577 

there is no such thing as debt at all. With this conviction, 
the mind of the reader, I think, cannot fail to see the entire 
and perfect morality of the abolition and renunciation of all 
debts recommended in Article Istj page 137 ; although, 
for obvious-reasons, in some subsequent pages I have dis- 
cussed the question of the existence of such morality, as 
though it were a matter of doubt. This doubt, I trust, is 
banished, and the judgment satisfied, that debt cannot 
now be justly considered as having any actual moral 
existence. > 

To entertain an opinion to the contrary of this, would 
be to sanction the idea, that nations may rob a portion of 
their citizens or subjects, of their rights of property ; and that 
such other of these same citizens or subjects, as shall receive 
the avails of this robbery, may nevertheless, of right, make 
valid contracts with the party robbed I Thus, in the first 
settlement of this State, one man, of the name of Van 
Renssellaer, (see note at the bottom of page 339,) receiv- 
ed an enormous grant of more than three hundred thou- 
sand acres of land, having a location second to none, ex- 
cept to this city and its vicinity, in advantages of every 
kind ; and yet any contract entered into, between this 
large possessor, and the thousands and tens of thousands 
who were denied their equal rights with him, is to be con- 
sidered as moral and good ! 

Thus, tooj in the year 1066, when William the Coi^^ 
queror took possession of England, sev^en hundred barons 
only, were made owners by Mm, of the whole soil of the 
nation, with only a triilipg exception ; while a milhon, 
perhaps, (for I know not the number,) of other human be- 
ings, having rights ^qual to and with these same barons 
and their soverei^^, were denied possessions of any kind 
whatever ! 
If valid contract can exist between the dispossessed 

32* . . 



378 

and their dispossessors, in this instance ; then must it be, 
because the barons and their Sovereign alone had rights ; 
the residue of the nation having none ! If this be not the 
cause, and still it be contended that valid contracts may 
be made between the parties, although one is an aggres- 
sor upon the other ; then must it be because injury or ag- 
gression of any kind being made use of, to obtain a con- 
tract, does not vitiate such contract itself, but leaves it as 
good and as moral between the parties, as if they had stood, 
in the presence of each other, in the full possession of the 
rights that belong to each, and in the total absence of eve- 
ry thmg like deprivation, constraint, or duress ! With this 
doctrine before us, the mass of nations may indeed be first 
robbed of their rights, and then be bound by contract, so 
as to be compelled to surrender up to those who rob them, 
the full labor of their lives, with the exception only of so much 
as may barely keep them in existence, and all will be right ! 
But without it, there can be no such thing as contract, or 
debt, arising from contract ; or just possession of proper- 
ty, or labor .or the avails of labor, growing out oi' payment 
of any such supposed debt. 

Let society, however, be so modified, as to give to each 
man his original riglat to property, at the proper season of 
his life, equal to that of any other man's, together with 
equal, early, and ample education ; and then, debts will 
have a good moral foundation on which to rest. At pre- 
sent, debt is little more or less than extortion, practised 
upon the needy, who Viave not, and never have had, what 
is their own, by those who hato ^Qt only their own, but 
also what belongs to those to whon. they undertake to sell. 
It is like the thief, selling his stolen feoods, to the true and 
original owner.* 

* I have not thought proper, in this Work, to propose, that 



379 

Man, in his ignorance of the laws which govern the ope-* 
rations of nature, as well those that are near at hand, as 
those that are remote, and almost invisible, is a being o 
feebleness as it regards his power of supplying his own 
wants. Circumstances, in the early stage of his social 
existence, which none, at the time had the power to con- 
trol, because they had not the power to foresee the future, 
enabled some men, as it were, to make prisoners of others, 
and compel them to supply wants, which they were not, of 
their own individual and equal resources, able to supply 
themselves. What is called wealth, therefore, is nothing 
less than the power to make prisoners of our fellow men } 
and to compel them to erect for its possessor, a palace of 
marble, for example, when of his own equal or equivalent 
industry, he could not erect it himself. 

But it is time, that those who desire to be rich, should 
desire to be so, without enslaving their fellow men. And 
it is altogether easier to do so, without such a crying injus- 
tice, than it is with it. Every morning do I have on my 
table, what the mightiest of the Roman Emperors could 
not have had at all, in the best days of his power. And yet 



in the new organization of society which it contaias, no 
laws shall be passed for the collection of debts. I appre- 
hend, however, whether such laws shall be passed or not, 
that the fact will be, that there will be little of debt in either 
case ; inasmuch as all, with very few exceptions, indeed, 
will have the means of present payment ; and credit, of 
course, will neither be given nor required ; at least to any 
such amount as to deserve the name. Let us anticipate 
then, how happy it will be for our species, when the hosts of 
lawyers, judges, sheriffs, jailors, legislators, &c. &c. which 
now swarm around us, shall nearly all disappear, and instead 
of preying upon producers, shall become producers them- 
selves. 



380 

I have no means to go forth, and arrest men, who are my 
equals ; and make them contribute to the satisfaction of 
my wants. What, then, can this be ? A newspaper. Yet 
this is the result of the extension'of knowledge in the human 
mind. Society should be, and under proper circumstan- 
ces would be, a garden, in which the tree of knowledge 
M'ould flourish luxuriantly. It is, in discoveries, therefore, 
that all men should look for the source of their wealth. 
For, when, by reason of discoveries, men come, for exam- 
ple, to be able, each, to do as much as five thousand men 
could do, previous to such discovery ; it is precisely the 
same thing as if each one of us could go forth, make 
prisoners of this number, and compel them, without cost 
to us, to contribute to our use the full quantum of all the 
labor they are able to perform. 

To become sensible that such is the true source of all 
wealth that is honest or legitimate ; and that it is the way 
to make the most of it, too, we need only recur to the 
power of producing wealth which the printing press affords. 
'' In the year 1272, the wages of a laboring man were just 
'' three halfpence a day ; and at the same period, the price 
i« of a Bible, fairly written out, was £30 sterling. Of 
" course, a common laborer, in those days, could not have 
" procured a copy of the Bible, with less than the entire 
«' earnings o^ thirteen years! Now, a. beautiful printed 
'* copy of the same book can be purchased with the earn- 
" ings of one day.'* 

" Take another view of the subject. An ordinary clerk 
«« cannot make a fair manuscript copy of the Bible, in less 
«' than three months. With a common printing press, work 
'» equivalent to printing a copy of the whole Bible, can be 
'« done in ten minutes ; and with a steam-press, of the 
-' most approved construction, the same work can be done 
*' in tJiree minutes.'* 



381 

In the first view abovementioned, it appears, that witfi 
thirteen years of his labor, a laboring man can now pur- 
chase 4800 Bibles ; whereas, before the invention of the 
printing press, with the same amount of labor, he could 
purchase only one ; and that, of an inferior kmd. Here 
is precisely the same quantum of wealth placed into the 
hands of this laboring man, as if, when manuscript, afforded 
the only means of furnishing copies of any work ; he could 
have gone forth, and by conquest, force, stratagem, cun- 
ning, or fraud, made prisoners of 4800 men, and compell- 
ed them to work for him for nothing. 

In the subsequent view, two considerations are blended. 
Thus, it is not a single person, that is capable of using the 
printing press ; either of the common kind, or of that 
driven by steam ; whereas the case supposed, allows us 
only one copier of manuscript. It has relation, thereforCj 
to time, to rapidity of execution^ rather than to compara-^ 
tive labor done. Thus, by one common printing presSj 
copies are multiplied faster than could be, by a single 
copyist, in the proportion of 13,104 to one ! And in the 
case of the steam press, as 43,680 to one ! 

Such, and similar, too, is the case with innumerable othit 
inventions, which the benefactors of mankind have bestow- 
ed upon the human race. Nor, notwithstanding, so much 
have been done by those who have gone before us, is there 
yet little left for us to do. The discoveries, that yet remain 
to be made in every department of human knowledge, ar© 
inexhaustible, as will be the wealth which they will afford 
to the generations that shall make them, and to those that 
shall succeed them. But, in orde rthat we may have a 
multitude, and the greatest multitude possible, of explorers 
of new truths ; the situation^ the condition^ in one word, 
\\\Q possessions of all men, at their first mature entrance 
into life, together with their educationj must be equal, Ar^ 



382f 

tificial and unequal wealth must not be, nor remain built 
up, by the suicidal consent of society, to place those who 
possess it, in situations of ease, such as they need not, de- 
sire, and will not care to contribute their quantum of know- 
ledge and discovery, to the common fund; nor must oth- 
ers be depressed into the gulf of poverty, discouragement 
and degradation, by withholding from them that which is 
their own, in right of their being; and without which, 
they also, will add little to the stock of science, and be \xr\i!i 
able even to preserve that which is now in existence. 

Under the present unequal distribution of property, 
where labor is the sole resource the poor have, by which 
to maintain their existence, degraded as it is, by the slave- 
ry in which they are plunged, it is not wonderful that they 
have been found to be opposed to the introduction of im- 
provements. Fruitless and unavailing as such opposition 
is, ii is yet less unreasonable than at first sight it may ap- 
pear to be. It is true, that one consequence of such im- 
provement, as we have already shown, is, that a poor man 
even, may obtain 4,800 times as much as he could obtain 
without it : yet, it may be asked, may he not be an ulti- 
mate loser ? May not improvement extend to such a de- 
gree, that there will be no demand for his labor ? Or if it 
does not reach this point, will it not approach so near it, as 
to make him an extreme sufferer ? Let it not be forgotten, 
that while on the one hand, labor-saving machinery is ad- 
vancing in its march to perfection, with rapid strides, and 
diminishing demand for labor ; so on the other, are the 
numbers of the poor, among whom this demand is to be 
shared, augmenting in a fearful ratio. It will be said, 
perhaps, that by reducing price, the direct and certain con- 
sequence of improvements, (otherwise they do not deserve 
the name,) consumption is augmented; and, therefore, the 
demand is increased. This is true only in a limited de- 



S83 

gree ; for, as these improvements supersede, sooner or 
later, in a great measure, all demand for the labor of the 
poor ; it dries up their resources faster than it multiplies 
them ; this, in the end, diminishes, rather than increases 
the demand ; and the consequence is, that as inventionSj 
any more than revolutions, never go backwards, are never 
given up, when their benefits are once tasted ; that the 
whole laboring population must perish, as it were, in a sort 
of self-destruction, like useless beings on the earth, where, 
it would seem, they have no right to appear ; or that they 
must avert such a calamity, by the best means in their 
power. 

That they cannot destroy the existence, and even in- 
-crease of labor-saving machines and processes, is evident 
from this ; that every one of those whose feelings are en- 
listed against their inutility to them, on account of their de- 
stroying demand for their labor, whenever he has occasion, 
purchases, because they come cheaper, the very produc- 
tions afforded by the agents which he so much deprecates. 
Of what use, then, is it, for a laboring man to cry out 
against improvements, when he goes and buys a coat, for 
example, or rather the materials of it, at a low price, which 
these very improvements have made ? It is reward that 
keeps thesfe, improvements in existence ; and it is not 
a volley of hard words and abuse that will do them any 
injury. If, then, the poor themselves contribute, and 
as they do, by an unavoidable necessity, to the support of 
that which threatens their own destruction, what hope have 
they to escape ? It is not the rich, certainly, that will; 
even if it were right that they should; and, we see the poor 
cannot forego the advantages, individually speaking, of 
these inventions ; how then, are they to avert so great a 
calamity ? 

The Steam-Engine is not injurious to the poor, when 



384 

Ihey can have the benefit of it ; and this, on supposition « 
being always the case, instead of being looked upon, as 
a curse, would be hailed as a blessing. If, then, it is seen 
that the Steam-Engine, for example, is likely to greatly im^ 
poverish, or destroy the poor, what have they to do, but 
TO LAY HOLD OF IT, AND MAKE IT THEIR 
OWN ? LET THEM APPROPRIATE ALSO, in the 
same way, THE COTTON FACTORIES, THE 
WOOLEN FACTORIES, THE IRON FOUNDE- 
RIES, THE ROLLING MILLS, HOUSES, CHURCH- 
ES, SHIPS, GOODS, STEAM-BOATS, FIELDS OF 
AGRICULTURE, 6z^c. &c. &c. in mannner as pro- 
posed in this work, AND AS IS THEIR RIGHT ; and 
they will never have occcasion any more to consider that 
as an evil which never deserved that character ; which, on 
the contrary, is all that is good among men ; and of which, 
we cannot, under these new circumstances, have too 
much. It is an equal division of property that MAKES 
ALL RIGHT, and an equal transmission of it to posteri- 
ty, KEEPS IT SO. 

Amidst the multitude of efforts, which at different times, 
and in different countries, have been made to accom- 
plish for the people what I have endeavored to accomplish 
for them in this work ; it may be expected that I should take 
some notice of the labors, in the cause of humanity, which, 
among others, have distinguished Mr. Robert Owen, of 
New Lanark, in Scotland That his intentions have been 
those of the purest character, there can be no doubt. 
But of what use can a system of the kind be, when it is 
only to be established, not on the rights of those for whose 
benefit it is expressly intended, but on the permission of 
those to whom, according to his plans, it is necessary to 
apply, before any one of his communities can be allowed 
to have an existence ? Before any number of unfortunate 



385 

Imman beings, without property of any kind, or of any 
amount, can be allowed to have " a local habitation ;" I 
might almost have added, << and a name," it is neces i 
sary for them to enter into a treaty with those who now 
possess the property of the world, for permission to enter 
into its possession ; and as an inducement to the holder to 
give such permission, the future labor of the community is 
to be given up, precisely in manner as now happens 
throughout the world. Even Mr. Owen and his associates^ 
from the labors of those whose welfare they consulted, 
drew an annual interest, on their capital, of twelve and a 
half per cent.* That Ihose in their employ were evidently 
greatly improved in their moral, intellectual, and physical 
condition, is undoubtedly true. But what does this import ? 
Does it mean, that because their condition is evidently 
greatly ameliorated, that, therefore, their rights are recog- 
nized to their fullest extent ? If it does not, why then 
should not a better system be sought and this renounced ? 
It has been the purpose of this Work to show, and I trust 
no one will read it without the conviction that I have shewn, 
that every thing paid to any one, in the shape of interest, 
rent, or profit, beyond payment for service rendered, is an 
invasion of the right of him who pays for the unjust benefit 
of him who receives it. If this be so, why should it be paid 
more to Mr.Owen than to another ? He, certainly, I am per- 
suaded, would be the last man to desire it, if he were con- 
vinced of its impropriety. How, then, when he has been 
searching into the causes of human misery ; how has it hap- 
pened that he has not found an abundant fountain of it in 
himself; in his own person ? Take away from the possessors 
of the world their dividends, their rents, their profits ; in one 
word, that which they receive for the use of it, and which 



* Byllesby's Observations on the Sources and Efiect^s of 
Unequal Wealth, p. 144. ^ 

3o 



386 ' ^ 

belongs, freely belongs, to one as much as another ; and what 
^vould become of the present miserable condition of the hu- 
man race ? It would be annihilated for ever. But these di- 
vidends, these rents, these profits, these prices paid for the 
use of the vi^orld, or of the world's materials, will never 
cease to be paid, till the possession of these materials is 
made equal, or substantially equal, among all men ; till 
there shall be no lenders, no borrowers ; no landlords, no te- 
nants ; no masters, no journeymen.; no Wealth, no Want. 

But, allowing Mr. Owen's system to be good ; where 
shall we fi,nd more men like Mr. Owen ? It is no new thing 
in the world that Kindness is a greater Despot than Cru- 
elty. It is no wonder, then, that he and his associates, at 
the same time that they gave more happiness to those un- 
der their care, than they might have obtained elsewhere, 
drew also to themselves greater returns than others are in 
the habit of obtaining as their reward ; yet still the ques- 
tion recurs, where shall we find more Owens? Until it 
shall be shown that they can be found, a system is of little 
use, which can only exist during the lifetime of a single 
man. 

Besides, there is something uncongenial with the best 
feelings of the heart, (to say nothing of original right,) 
when it is compelled to contemplate the happiness it en- 
joys, be it little or much, as flowing from another ; even 
though it be from a benefactor. It subtracts half the value 
of such happiness, to feel that it is dependent on another 
for it, instead of having it indissolubly connected with us, 
as a part of our existence. Disguise it, as it may be, there 
seems something silently, but too audibly to tell us ,• that 
though we may be happy, we owe it to a master. And 
yet who, better than the poet, has expressed it ? 

" Man knoiosno master, save creating Heaven, 

<' Or those whom choice or common good ordain. — Thompson, 



387 

I approach, then, the close of this Work. I hasten to. 
commit it to the hands, the heads and the hearts of those 
for whose benefit it is written. It is to them that I look , for 
the poMJer necessary, to bring the system it recommends into 
existence. Tf they shall think I have so far understood myself, 
and the subject I have undertaken to discuss, as to have 
perceived, and marked out the path that leads them to the 
enjoyment of their rights, their interests and their happiness, 
IT WILL BE FOR THOSE WHO ARE SUFFER- 
ING THE EVILS, of which I have endeavored to point 
out the causes and the remedies, TO LEAD THE WAY, 
Those who are enjoying the sweets of the labor of others, 
will have no hearts to feel for the misery which the pre- 
sent system occasions. And the first throe of pain, which 
they will feel, will be that of alarm, that they are soon to 
be ordered to riot on the toils of others no more for ever I 
But those who suffer, will feel no cause of alarm. The 
very intensity of their sufferings, since now they understand 
their origin and cure, will add double vigor to their exer- 
tions to recover their rights. But let them understand, 
that much is to be done, to accomphsh this recovery. IT 
IS TO BE THE RESULT OF THE COMBINED 
EXERTIONS, OF GREAT NUMBERS OF MEN. 
These, by no means, now understand their true situation ; 
but when they do, they will be ready and willing to do 
what belongs to their happiness. If, then, there be truth ; 
if there be reason ; if there be force of argument, in the 
work which I thus commit to the hands of those for whose 
benefit it is written ; let them read ; let it be read ; let it 
be conversed about, in the hearing of those whose interest 
it is, to hear whatever of truth, of reason, and argumeht 
it may contain ; and as often, too, las there may be oppor- 
tunity. Let them awake to a knowledge of their rights. 



308 

and how they may be obtained, and they ^vill not be slow 
(since it will then be so easy) to reclaim them. 

Let the poor and middling classes understand that their 
oppressions come from the overgrown wealth that exists 
among them, on the one hand, and from entire destitu- 
tion on the other ; and that as this overgrown wealth is 
continually augmenting its possessions, in a rapid ratio, the 
public sufferings are continually augmenting also ; and 
must continue to augment, until the equal and unalienable 
rights of the people shall order otherwise. Let the parent 
reflect, if he be now a man of toil, that his children must 
be, ninety-nine cases in a hundred, slaves, and worse ^ to 
some rich proprietor ; and that there is no alternative, but 
the change proposed. Let him not cheat himself with 
empty pretensions ; for, he who commands the property of 
of a State y or even an inordinate portion of it, HAS THE 
LIBERTY AND THE HAPPINESS OF ITS CITI- 
ZENS IN HLS OWN KEEPING. And if there be 
some dozen, or fifty, or five hundred of these large pro- 
prietors, they are neither more nor less than so many addi- 
tional keepers. He who can feed me, or starve me ; give 
me employment, or bid me wander about in idleness ; is my 
master ; and it is the utmost folly for me to boast of being 
any thing but a slave. 

In fine, let the people awake to their rights ; let them 
understand in what they consist ; let them see the course 
they must pursue to obtain them ; let them follow up that 
course, by informing each as many as he can, his fellow 
citizens, of the truth which this Work contains ; let all 
co-operate, in the early and effectual accomplishment of 
the objects it recommends, and these objects will easily 
and speedily be achieved, and none will have labored in 
vain. 
At the moment of taking leave of the reader, it occurs 



389 

io me, that it would be well to add a single remark. If 
ever the principles of this Work are to prevail; if ever 
they are to find their way among men, and to restore to 
them their rights, it is only to be done, by each doing all 
he can, single and separately, to open the eyes of his fel- 
lows, to the perception of the evil that oppresses him, its 
origin and cure. While this is doing, and doing too in 
many parts of the State, of the Union, and the World, at 
one and the same time ; for such is the co- extensive and 
cotemporary energy, with which the productions of the 
press operate ; the rich, now and then, will cast their eyes 
on this Work ; and they, too, will see that the system 
which it proposes, must, sooner or later, take place. Ul- 
timately, the whole of them will come to the same conclu- 
sion. So many of them as shall dread its approach, and 
shall not have the moral honesty to surrender up to the 
disposition of their fellow citizens, all that they have, will, 
df course, conceal as much as they can. And that which 
is the most desirable to conceal, and the easiest concealed, 
is money. Now, whenever it shall appear, correctly or 
otherwise, it is no matter, to the rich generally, that the 
great mass of the people have very nearly awakened to the 
determination to resume their rights, and pursuant thereto, 
to order a General Division of property ; these conceal- 
ments will take place very suddenly ; and, perhaps, to 
such an extent as to withdraw the precious metals entirely 
from circulation, out of the banks, as well as elsewhere. 
In such an event, the banks would be broken ; and as 
there would be no circulating medium, all business would 
be instantly suspended. Those who now carry on exten- 
sive business, would have nothing with which to pay oif 
their hands ; and if they had, they might be as willing as 
others, to bury it in the earth, for the purpose of defraud-, 
ing the community out of it. 

33* 



390 

In such an event, which is far from being impossible, 
ihe wished for change would arrive earlier, than is already 
anticipated in this work ; and in manner somewhat differ- 
ent. For the reader understands, that I have intended ^ 
that a State Convention, to be chosen by the people, for 
the purpose, shall order the suspension of all business, 
which, by this operation of withdrawing all the gold and 
silver from circulation, and burying it in the earth by the rich, 
would be anticipated. If it should so happen, it will not 
be the fault of this Work, or of the great mass of the peo* 
pie, and may not be that even, of the majority of the rich ; 
for even a very few of them, would be able to put away all 
the precious metals, that are to be found in the State ; and 
as to other States, they could no more spare their precious 
metals than ourselvei, without coming in contact with a 
similar catastrophe ; and of which, they too, will be in 
similar danger. Besides, as to personal property in the 
city of New- York, alone, there is probably more in value 
than all the specie money in the United States, twice, or 
even thrice told. So that, it will be no difficult thing, if 
dishonesty prevail, even to a small extent among the rich, 
to bring about the withdrawal of which I am speaking. 

Under such circumstances, it may be said, that the 
government has suddenly ceased to exist ; that it has ex- 
pired, as it were, in a fit of apoplexy ; and it will then be 
incumbent on the people to organize a temporary commit- 
tee of safety ; and take care, immediately, that no pro- 
perty leaves the State, or is wasted, or destroyed, further 
than is necessary for subsistence ; until a State Convention 
can be assembled, to form a new government, on princi- 
ples corresponding with all the rights of man ; and which, 
as it ensures his happiness, by preserving his equality, and 
that of all succeeding generations, we may confidently 
hope will be eternal. 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Abolition of all debts ordered 137 

Acquire property, as rightly understood, men do not 97 

Adam did not buy property, &c. 371 

Adults„death of, in ihe different seasons of the year 259 

Age of maturity, recommended to be fixed at 18 13D 

Agrarian Law, among the Romans, what 20 

operation and effects of, as applied to the 

State of New- York 23 

the Source of more happiness than socie- 
ty wotiy furnishes 28 

Aliens, on becoming citizens, after the General Divi- 
sion, must give up all property over the amount of a 

patrimony 149 

Alien Book, General, what 297 

Astor, John Jacob, comparison of his lalor, say of fifty 
years, being paid for with the labor often thousand 

years 154 

Astor, J. J. his imaginary loan of the Chemical Bank 187 

B 

Banks, to be destroyed, why 163 

how usurious 180 
Rhode-Island, how little specie for its paper in 

circulation 181 

Georgia do. 181 

Bank, Chemical, do. 182 

Dry Dock do 182 

Manhattan 163 



392 

PAGE. 

Bible, former cost of 38o 

Birth-place of, does not give title to soil 131 

Births, unequal ; when most of them take place 260 

Brooklyn Ferry-Boats, rob the community, how 191 



Charity, to be given only by the State, why 266 

Charters, all to be repealed 160 
null, when they pretend to give what|the receiver 

has no right to receive 161 
Child, may he starved to deaths if the father's property 

belongs only to the father 103 
Children, estimate of, between 5 and 15 in the State 17 
proportion of those who read 18 
clothed, fed, and educated at the public expense 143 
being furnished with a patrimony, at the age of 
maturity, without expense to the father, the in- 
dustry of the latter greatly increased thereby 225 
their future wants, their parents do not supply 
them 227 
' no longer placed in manufactories at unsuitable 

ages 281 
supported at the public expense, reasons why 262—266 
of the rich, have an interest in insisting that their 
.fathers consent to the proposed organization of 

society, and a right to demand it 258 

Churches and Church property, to be sold, why 342 

Common Council, a member Of, his abuse of the poor 241 

Community system, Mr. Owen's, objections to 384 

Conquest does not give right 34 
Consent, alone, gives title to specific properly, but not 

the right 42 
Constitution of South-Carolina, as drawn by Mr. 

Locke, its absurdities 66 
Constitution of the State must be altered, and why 145—- 207 

Contract, there is no such thing as, why 373 

Counties, number of in the State 28^1 



393 

^ PAGE. 

Dead and living cannot meet, &c. ^72 
Death, of husband or wife, after ; survivor has half the 

property, after debts are paid ^^ 

Deaths, of adults, in the diflFerent seasons of the year 259 
Debt, there is no such thing as, why 373—378 
Debts, no laws for the collection of, probable; note to 

page ^'® 
" Department Inventory,'' what it contains 295 
Diagram of the world, occupied in common 98 
divided equally 106 
divided unequally 337 
Districts, school, number of 286 
Dividend, annual, for ever, of the effects of all deceas- 
ed persons * 141 
Dividend, at the General Division, may be made very 

near and sufficiently equal 248 
Duress, all governments guilty of towards their citi- 
zens or subjects, wherein 374 

E 

Egypt, lands of, held only for one year 106 

Equal division of property, to desire it, not a dictate 

of nature, as asserted by Raymond, controverted 26 

Equal division of property may be brought about, by 

the rich, how 388 

Equal share of property, those who think it an evil, need 

not take it 215 

Equality of rights, no power can justly destroy 44 

Extending suffrage in this State, so as to allow men of 

no property to vote for State Senators, and violated 

the (then) right of property in the hands of the rich 55 

F 

Fortune, mep of, evils and curses to human Society 246 
Fortunes, large, injurious to those which are smaller 334 



394 

G PAGE. 

Gaming, a gift, and therefore a felony S48 
Gas-Li^ht Company of New- York, a robbery of the 

community 1^1 

"General Alien-Book," what 297 
General Division of property compared to a general 

Bankruptcy 256 

'* General Inventory of the State," what 2^7 

Gifts, why they may not be made 267 

why they will not and cannot be made 346 

Governments, all have begun wrong 126 

should commence anew 127 
Government, may be overthrown, even by a minority, 

if the latter have not had given to them their pqual 

share of property * 243 
Guardians appointed for those who are not qualified to 

take care of property, Article 10 140 

H 

Half right, and half wrong systems, wrong altogether 333 

Honesty, of the poor, proofs given 345 

How long does a man own property ? ^2 
Hudson, the first discoverer of Hudson River, attacked 

by the Indians -^^T 

I, J 

JeflFerson, his imperfect view of the principles of gov- 
ernment 58 
Jefferson, more of his errors 72 
If a man's property is /ws, and his on/y, he may starve 

his own child to death 103 

Indians, of this country, not exclusively owners, why 130 
now living among us, to give up their lands and 

take their equal share with us 158 

attacked the first discoverer of Hudson River 357 

Indolence, the true sources oi\ what 2 31 

Industry, the true stimulus of. what 231 

to have full protection against foreign competition, 

Art. 20 144 



395 

T IP PAGE. 

inequality of property, sources of, even after it shall 
have been equally divided, enumerated and con- 
sidered 248-254 
insurance, probably by the State 348 
-fudges, of whatever kind, to be appointed by the di- 
rect vote of the pe^ople 207 

L 

Labor, not property, why 33 
bestowed on property, does not give title to the 

latter, why 34 

whose it has been, that has made the State what 

it now is 245 

Lands, in Egypt, held for one year only 108 

in Peru, do. 108 

belonging to the School-Fund to be sold 157 

to the Indians, to be given up 158 

Large fortunes, injurious and often destructive to those 

that are smaller 334 

Law, Agrarian, among the Romans, what 20 
as it would be, if applied to the citizens of 

the State of New- York 23 

Laws, never the same in any two countries 30 

Living and dead cannot meet, &c. 372 
Locke, his plan of government for the Colony of South 

Carolina ^./? 
Lorillard, comparison of his willing away the poor, 

like so many cattle, beginning at the bottom of page' 225 

Lorillard, it is the labor of the poor, that is daily add- 

ing to his wealth, and the wealth of others; their 

own industry is as nothing 238 

Lottery, in the nature of gifts, and therefore a felony 348 

Love of property, reasons why we have it 22 1 

M 

Machinery, labor saving, the poor support it, why 383 

Man, black, red, smd white, to have the'same rights 146 

black, his rights of suffrage 158 

not fit, &c. answered 367~37i 



396 



Mankind, by some supposed to be of two species ; one, 
of slaves to work ; the other, of masters to make ^^^ 
them work ^oq 



Maturity, age of, recommended to be fixed at la 

326 
of fortune, the evils and curses of society 246 



luaiuiJijr, 05^ v., »«^»*w 

Men, rich, do not earn their own wealth 

will away the poor like cattle ^^^ 



wealthy, can only escape giving up their proper- 
ty, by fraud, perjury, &c. 
beginning the world with nothing and getting rich ; 

why they should give their wealth up 335 & 838 

who say *' they have made their property by their 

industry," answered ^^ 

without children, love property as much as others 22J 

with children, often keep it as long as they live 223 

of fortune, ought to be exterminated, and how 247 

Merchants, as necessary in the new, as in the old system 354 

Mint, United States, coinage of ^ 349 

Money, theory of, &c. 167—179 

N 

Navy, will be destroyed, its place, how supplied 282 
Kewton, Sir Isaac, how he might have been situated 
on the principle that he could be allowed to have 

property only from a testator 252 

Number of persons in France who cannot read 9 

of Counties in the State 286 

of Townships do. 286 

of School-districts 286 

of white persons, for one of the African race 1S5 

of the people of this State 17 

of children between the ages of 5 and 15 18 

of acres of laud in the State 24 

O 

Objections, to equal patrimonies to all, will have still 
greater force against large legacies being given to 
the sons of the rich 229 



397 

PAGBo 

Objections to an equal division of property among all 
persons whatever, are equally forcible against an 

equal division among children of the same family 209 
Observations on the theory of money, &c. 167 — 179 

Occupancy of property does not give title 36 

Occupations, all require property 341 

Owen, Mr. Robert, notice of 384 



Paine, his imperfect views of the principles of gov- 
ernment . 63 
Patrimony, after General Division, to be given, (in 
matter of right) to all citizens born here ^ and to these 
only, Article 4 139 
Patrimony, at the General Division, be given to fo- 
reigners who are then citizens'; and to thoise who, 
without being citizens, have been five years resident 
in the State, page 138, Art. 2 317 
Patrimonies, difference in, will or inay be very small, 

and such as to be of no importance 261 

Peru, lands in, held for one year only 108 

People, a great Judicial Tribunal, judging of the rights 

of property 311 

Place of bi t does not give title to property 131 

PLAN, for dividing all property, with form of govern- 
ment to succeed 137 — 144 
Possession or occupancy, does not give title 36 
Possessions, Van Kensellaer's held by an unjust title 129 
Priests, as well as othei"s, must do military duty 200 
must not be prevented by the Constitution from 
being chosen to office 20^ 
Property, equal division of, to desire it, not a dictate 

of nature as stated by Raymond, controverted 26 

Property, rights ot, not understood 20 

labor bestowed on, does not give title to the for- 
mer ^ 
possession of, does not give title 3$ 

34 



398 

PAGE. 

Property, tiUe to it, consent alone gives it *^ 

Haw long does a man own it ? 
As rightly understood, men do not acquire it 
if it be wholly a man's own, he may starve his own ^^^ 

child to death 
has no successors ; all have title to it in their own ^^^ 

right jgy 

renunciation of, abroad 
the present distribution of, good enough, it is said, 

answered 
equal share of, those who think it an evil t^ them, 

need not take it 
unequal, vices both in high and low life come 

from it , -x 221 

love of, reasons why we have it 

will descend unequally, even after an equal gene- 
Division has taken place, if wills remam, rea- 

, 349—266 

sons why 

in the hands of the rich, often of little use to any 

body - 

valuation of, principles of 

on board vessels out of the State, to be consider- 
ed as property of the State ; so also the vessels 291 
■ should not descend hereditarily any more than 
political power 
men of wealth can only evade giving it up, by 

fraud, perjury, &c. 
General Division of, how far it is like a general 

bankruptcy to the rich 2o6 

unequal distribution of, compared to a dinner party 355 
true source of, title to, what 3^'' 

being unequal, the origin of conquest 358 

inequality of, the oria^in of it, what, 360—367 

of the church, must not be exempted from sale, 
why 342 

Proportion ot the colored to the white population 159 

4umsbment, for concealing or not giving up all proper- 
ty, Art. 8 ^^^ 
punishment, for giving away property, Art. 18 143 



399 

Q PAGE. 

(Quakers, or others, not to be exempted from bearing 
arms, on any consideration 1^' 

R 

Read, men who cannot, number of in France ^ 

Reasons why w^e love property 231 

why debts out of the State, and properly in it, 
owned by citizens or subjects of .her States or 
nations, cannot be paid or received 319—333 

why a man beginning the world with nothings and 
getting rich, may yet have his riches taken tiom 
him 335 

why a man, at his death, should give up the la- 
bors of his life, v.thout saying to whom 237 
Rtinunciation of all property abroad 137 
Rich men do not earn their own wealth 938 
will away the poor like cattle 226 
Rights of property not understood 30 
the same for the black man, the red man? and the 

white man 146 

equality ot, no power can justiy destroy 44 

of man, Mr. Jv ffers'in's erroneous views of 58 — 72 

of women to property and suflfrage the same as 

those which belong to men 159 

men have inquired too little after them 239 

none have ever abandoned them 340 

S 

Salt Springs,* should be sold, why 146 

School districts, number of 28G 



* Since this work went to press, statements have been given to the public, show- 
ing the duties on Salt made in this State, the past year, to amount to about 150,000 
dollars. In page 148, where the average duties for 12 years are put dowi» at 
75,000 dollars per annnm, the value of these Springs is estimated at one mil- 
lion andja half of dollars. By the same rule of estimation, their value should now 
bo cousidered at not less than three millions. 



400 

FAG£. 
Society, happier, with an Agrarian Law, like the Ro- 
man, than as it is now organized 28 
Sources of inequality of property, even after it shall 
have been equally divided, enumerated and con- 
sidered 248—254 
Specie, estimate of, for each person in the U. States 349 

in England 350 

in France 350 

Speculation, nc chance for in the new system, why 281 

Spendthrift, Jess opportunity for the existence of the, 

than now, why 354 

State Senate to be established, why 204 

T 

Tariff, on imported commodities, why it should be very 
high and almost prohibitory in almost all cases 268—282 

Taxation, exemptions from, instances of; see both the 
text and note 351 



Valuation of property, principles of 287 

Value, probable, of the State 352 

Van Renssellaer, his possessions held by an unjust 

title 129 

Van Rensselaer, extent of lands granted to his ances: 

tors, see note to page 339 

Vessels, and property on board, being without the 

State, to be considered as the property af the State 291 
Vice, both in high and low life, come from unequal 

property 219 

Voters, 300,000 of them in the State 856 

W 

William, the Conquerer, of England, notice of 377 

Wills, if they are good at all, ought not to be forbid- 
den to be so madC) as to will away even our very 
lamp-posts 95 

Wills, the intention of, now very often defeated, and 
therefore useless 2S 2 



401 

PAGE. 

Wills, immoral in their tendency, why 234 

why again 235 
unjust and criminal in their operation, why 227 
to bestow laJior^ not practicable, even if they 
were just, why 23G 
to bestow labor, unjust, even if they were practi- 
cable, why 237 
as they might have affected Sir Isaac Newton 252 
Women, to have the right ol suffrage a« well as the 

right of property 159 
World, diagram of, held in common 98 
diagram of, held by the tenure of equal and exclu- 
sive possesion 106 
diagram of, held by unequal tenure, much as it 
has ever been 337 



34^ 



TO THE READER. 



The indisposition of the Author, during a portion of the time this Work was in 
Press, through the use, by mistake, duriug that period, of the ariginal Manuscript, 
instead of a corrected transcript, has led to a f»w errors in print ; of small impor- 
tance, it is true ; but still something more than it would be strictly proper to term 
typographical. The following errata, however will correct them, as it will also 
those of a typographical kind; and the cause that has rendered it necessary, it 
be hoped* will be considered a sufficient apology. 

ERRATA. 

Page 9, 11th line from bottom, after the word " out," insert the word " of," so 
as to read, ' seventeen millions out of thirty,' &c. 

Page 21, 2d line from bottom, the word * now,' after the word • is,' is omitted. 
It should read, ' such power is noup ordinarily understood,' fcc. 

Page 29, 10th line from top, after the word * remedy,' insert the word ' has,' so 
so as to read, • the remedy has had, &c.' 

Same page, 8th line from bottom, after the word * except,' insert the word 
* in,' so as to read, ' except in so far,' &c. 

Page 36, li»e 2d from bottom, strike out the word ' possession,' and insert the 
words ' the title of the possessor,' so as to read ' the title of the possessor, if it be 
just,' &c. 

Page 37, line 4th from bottom, for ' anysimilar, read ' any similar,' &c. 

Page 51, 3d line, from top, after the word ' however, insert the words • so far as 
prohibition is concerned,' making it read thus—' This right, however, so far as 
prohibition is concerned, is very rarely exercised,' &g 

Page 54, line 2d, from top, for ' affords, 'read « afforded,' &e. 

Page 55, line 14th, froni bottom, strike out the word * any,' immediately before 
the word * quality,' and insert the word, * one,' ao as to read, any one quality,' &c. 

Page 56, line 14th, from bottom, strike out the word ' is,' &c, 

Page 67, line Ith, from top, strike out the words ' the rightful owmers,' andin° 
sertthe words * any people,' so as to •oad, ' enjoyed by, any people, when,' &c. 

Page 67, 2d line from bottom, strike oui the word ' he,' and insert the words 
in him,' so as to read, ' as in Mm whc* proposes,' &c. 

Page 75, line l4th, from top, insert the words ' they and,' so as to come in bc- 
for» tke word ' moveable,' &c. It will then read. ' in the same way thi|t theif ani 
moveable things are now,' &c. 
Pag* 77, iB the heading to the Chapter, for * On the duration,' &c. read * Of 

iU dmaiimi &c. 



404 

Page 78, 6tb and 9th lines from bottom, alter the words ' because possession has 
uo right,' so as to make it read, 'because ' those in possession have no right, See. 
Page 81, line 11th, from bottom, strike out one of the words ' the,' inasmuch as 
it is a duplicate. 

Page 83, line 2d, from top, strike out the words ' much so,' inasmuch as they are 
duplicates. 

Page 85, 7th line from top, for the word ' would,' at the margin on the left of 
the page, ' read ' could,' &c. 
Page 86, top line, for the word * possor,' read ' possessor,' &c. 
Page 95, 1st and 2d line at bottom, instead of ' be t« a greater owner, inasmuch 
as he has contrihuttd more,* &c., read thus — * he may be a greater owner, inas- 
much as he may have contributed more,' &c. 
Page 100. llthline from top, for ' pretensions,' read • pretension,' &c. 
Page 101, 10th line from bottom, place a semicolon ( ; ) after the word *mmC 
Page 107, 14th line from top, for • soon, read ' so on,' &c. 
Same page, 15th line from top, for ' withany,' rctA « with any,' &e. 
Page 121, 7th line from bottom, for ' It is by the aid of money,* fee. read, ' It i> 
chiefly by the aid of money,' &c. 

Page 132, 7th line from bottom, instead of the words ' I am ttow considering,' 
ice. read, ' I am next to consider,' &c. 
Page 126, 6th line from top, for ' aflicting,' read * afflicting, &c. 
Page 128, 9th line from top, for 'substanly,' read ' substantially,' A-c. 
Page 140, 5th liiio from bottom, after the word * same.' insert tfhe word ' from. " 
Page 144, 7th line from top, for * partimony,' read ' patrimony,' Ac. 
Page l-'il, 5th line from bottom of the note, strike out he words * not onfy.' 
Page 153, 15th line from bonom, alter the words ' as it is afforded,' &c. so a» to 
read thus — ' as it is to he affo ded,' &c. 

Page 168, 7tb line from bottdm, the line now reads, * and come and lab^r eithtr 
on those public works,' it should read thus — * and come and labor ou thesefpublic 
works.' 

Page 177, 11th line from bottom, for • produced,' read produce.' 
Page 196, 12th line from top, for • individuuals,' read ' individuals.' 
Page 198, 10th line from bottom, for ' notning, read • nothinf .' 
Page 22*2, I7th line from top. for the word 'in,' at the entire left of the line, 
rciad * it.' 
Page 224, 1 9th line from top, for * robbbers,' read ' robbers.' 
Page 232, 11th line from bottom, for 'egal,' read ' legal." 
Page 237, llth line from top, for the words ' enaployed its construction,' read 
' employed in iti construction ' 

Page 241, 12Uj line from bottom, punctuate the words < may well be asked, if it 
is intended,' &c. so as to read thus— 'may well be asked. If it is intended,' &c. 
Page 283, 15th line from top, for • country,' read ' country. ' 
^ge 284, line llth from top, for • atall,' read ' at all.' 
Page 292, 19th line from top, for < proprety,' read * property:' 
Page 293, 6th line from top, for ' dene,' read ' done.' 

Same page, 7th line fi om top, for ' givs in the ames,' read ' give in their names.* 
Page S94, 13th liue from bottom, for ' commision,' read < coramisrioB.' 
Page 398, 4th line from top, for * ixuventory,' read • inventory. 



405 

Page SSY, 171 h line from bottom, for • the names,' road • tli«ir naraas/ 

Page 308, 13th line from top, for « snd,' read • and.' 

Page 342, 3d line from bottom, for * tloerated,' read ' tolerated.* 

Pag« 343, 5th line from top, strike out the w»ri « and.' 

Page 345, 14th linefrom top, after the word 'poor,' insert the word *tam' 

Same page, 19th line from the top, strike out, * the,' andiasort * a.' 

Page 347, 3d line from bottom, for « eomitted, read • conmitted.' 

Page 355, line 11th from bottom, for ' thatit,' read * that it.' 

Page 366, ling 5th and 6th Crom bottom, for * he consentSf' read thij consent 



ABVERTISEMENT. 



TO SUBSCRIBERS. 



For reasons that will not fail to suggest them 
•selves, the author has concluded to bind the pre- 
sent volume, in a plainer manner, as it regards 
the gilding, than the prospectus of his work stipu- 
lates ; and to substitute, instead thereof, the novelj 
and as he trusts, in this instance, the useful inno- 
vation upon book-binding, of stamping on the two 
coyers, IN LETTERS OF GOLD, the title of 
the work. He hopes it will be satisfactory to all ; 
but if it is not, those who are dissatisfied, are in- 
formed, that it rests with their pleasure to accept, 
or to have their copies gilt, (however ill it may be 
afforded,) as the proposals specify, by signifying 
such wish to those who shall deliver them. 



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